Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC.
Jack Bean
Prod. 2:404 (1825)
Conservation Status:
Alien
Name Status:
Current
Brief Description
Amanda Spooner,
Saturday 11 June 2005
Spreading or creeping shrub, to 1 m high, 10 m across. Fl. purple, pink, Jul. Sand. Levee. Distribution: N: CK.
Scientific Description
Amanda Spooner, James Carpenter, Gillian Smith and Kim Spence,
Thursday 21 August 2008
Common name(s). Sword Bean; Jack bean;.
Habit. Spreading or creeping, sparsely hairy shrubs, up to 1 m high, to 10 m in diameter.
Leaves. Alternate, spiral, compound, ternate, stipulate (caducous), petiolate, petiole to 96 mm long. Leaflet blade 84–135(–200) mm long, 50–100 mm wide, elliptic or obovate, base tapering, margins entire, apex acuminate or obtuse. Blade with indumentum; indumentum sparsely hairy.
Flowers. Arranged in inflorescences, in racemes; predominantly purple, very irregular, the floral asymmetry involving the perianth, pedicellate, pedicel 1–2 mm long (reflexed in flower), perianth 2 -whorled. Calyx 9–14 mm long, 5 sepals, all sepals joined. Corolla to 27.5 mm long, 5 petals, some petals joined. Stamens 10, free of the perianth, both opposite and alternating with the corolla parts, coherent to each other. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits. Ovary monomerous, superior, 1 -celled. Ovules several. Styles 1, simple.
Fruit. Dehiscent, a legume (narrowly oblong), non-fleshy, 220–430 mm long, 19–35 mm wide.
Distribution. Australian: Western Australia, Queensland. Alien to Australia, alien to Western Australia, probably naturalised. Native: probably native to tropical Americas.
Flowering period. July.
Additional differences from related species. In Canavalia ensiformis the seeds are white, elliptic and 15–16 x 11–12 mm. The other two native WA species have smaller brown seeds and are trailing vines, not shrubs.
Descriptions are sourced from the Weed Information Network project, Western Australian Herbarium.
Descriptions were generated using DELTA data format and DELTA software: Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993 onwards, 1995 onwards, 1998).
