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Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC.
Jack Bean

Reference
Prodr. 2:404 (1825)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Alien to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Spreading or creeping shrub, to 1 m high, 10 m across. Fl. purple-pink, Jul. Sand. Levee.

Amanda Spooner, Descriptive Catalogue, 11 June 2005

Scientific Description

Twining or climbing plants. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, glabrous, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present but early deciduous ( only visible on youngest leaves ). Pedicel present, 1-2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present but early deciduous. Calyx 8-9.5 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla multicoloured, mostly pink or purple, with some pink or purple spots, streaks or blotches. Stamens ten, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 200-220 mm long, 15-20 mm wide, stipitate or sessile or subsessile, constricted between the seeds or not constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in July. Occurs in the Northern Botanical Province, in the Central Kimberley IBRA regions.

C. Hollister and K.R. Thiele, 24 October 2023

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Central Kimberley.
IBRA Subregions
Pentecost.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Wyndham-East Kimberley.