General Information

COMMON NAMES: Hummingbird Tree, Cork-wood Tree, Scarlet Wisteria Tree, Sesban, Vegetable-Hummingbird GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE se.Asia - Indonesia COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands, gardens SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental flowers KEY FEATURES: Tree to 12m. LEAVES compound, evenly-pinnate, to 30cm; LEAFLETS 10-30 pairs, to 5x1.5cm. FLOWERS hanging clusters of 2-4, white or red, pea-like, to 10cm long; winter flowering. FRUIT very long, slender pod, to 50x1cm. SIMILAR SPECIES: Sesbania coccinea, a native Societies to Henderson, has leaflets fewer, to 13 pairs (vs to 25pairs), petals 2-3cm (vs 5-10cm), petal colour pink-yelow with red-brown stripes (vs red or white), and fruit to 20cm long (vs to 60cm).

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea: -
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Northern Group: -
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Sesbania grandiflora Linnaeus
SYNONYMS: Agati grandiflora; Robinia grandiflora

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ROSIDAE; Fabales (Legumes); FABACEAE

GENERAL NOTE: In Asia white flowers, young pods, leaves and shoots used as vegetables; leaves with a harmless saponin are used medicinally; bark provides a bitter-tasting medicine for fevers; seeds not eaten. (Neal, Gardens of Hawaii)

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: at Jimco, Avarua, field-ID, GM 7/2000 - imported by Tony McBride in 1999 as seeds from Fiji.

References:
p.449 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.1039 Hortus 3rd
p.1078 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.563 Tropica
p.3/176 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM03b, zD02, zupD03b

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