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Showing posts with the label black-eyed Susan

Abrus precatorius

Floral Description: According to Flora of Pakistan: Perennial climber, branches slender, glabrous or sparsely silky. Stipules 3.5 -6 mm long, linear, deciduous. Leaves 5-10 cm long. Petiole 0.6-1.2 cm long. Leaflets 10-20 pairs, opposite, petiolule less than 1 mm, lamina 0.8-2.2 cm long, 3.5-6 cm broad, oblong, tip rounded, apiculate, glabrous above, sparsely hairy below. Racemes axillary, pedunculate, shorter or equalling the leaves. Pedicels short. Calyx 2.5 mm long, glabrous or sparsely silky, teeth very short. Corolla pink or white with a pink tinge, vexillum 9-10 mm long. Pod 2.5-4.2 cm long, 1-1.3 cm broad, oblong. Seeds 3-5, ovoid, 7-8 mm long, scarlet with a black spot at the hilum, sometimes white with a black spot or uniformly black or white. Distribution: Pakistan; throughout India, Ceylon and Tropical Africa; introduced widely in the new and the old world; often planted. The seeds are commonly used by jewellers as weights. They are poisonous and are put to many med...