46 FABACEAE 
Abrus 
ABRUS Adans. 
A pantropical genus of 17 species, with 1 species in Australia and the NT. 
A. precatorius L. 
A deciduous perennial vine with twining stems. 
Glabrate with sparse adpressed white simple hairs 
throughout. Stipules setaceous, 2-4 mm long. Leaves 
paripinnate; rachis 40-106 mm long, stipels minute; 
leaflets in 12-19 pairs, discolorous, oblong or 
oblong-ovate, 7-24 mm long, 3-8 mm wide, L/W 1.3- 
3.4. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, secund, 
racemose, 75-160 mm long, with flowers in clusters 
on thickened, glandular swellings; bracts and 
bracteoles minute. Pedicels c. 3 mm long. Calyx 
truncate with 5 shallow lobes. Corolla mauve to 
purple, glabrous; standard sessile, ovate, 9-12 mm 
long. Stamens 9, alternately long and short. Ovules 
c. 4; style short, incurved, glabrous; stigma capitate. 
Pod pale brown, oblong, straight, raised over seeds, 
30-65 mm long, 12-14 mm wide, sparsely hairy with 
adpressed hairs and minute colleters, apex hooked. 
Seeds 3-4, oblique in pod, separated by papery septa, 
red and black (rarely all black), ellipsoid, 6-9 mm 
long, 4.5-6 mm wide. Flowering: Feb - May; fruiting: 
May - Sept. Fig. 16 Crab’s Eyes 
Occurs across northern Australia, throughout the 
Old World tropics and introduced to S America. 
Common in monsoon thickets and rocky habitats. The 
seeds are poisonous, but are not usually dangerous 
because the hard seed coat prevents their digestion. 
Seeds are used by Aboriginal and many other societies 
in necklaces and other decorations including prayer 
beads (Levitt, 1981; Smith & Wightman, 1990; 
Macmillan, 1991), from which use the specific epithet 
is derived. 
AESCHYNOMENE L. 
Erect annual shrubs or herbs with glandular based hairs. Stipules usually persistent, stramineous, peltate, 
prominently nerved. Leaves paripinnate, stipels absent. Leaflets asymmetric at base, discolorous. Inflorescence 
axillary or terminal, short, few flowered, racemose, with flowers solitary in the bract axils and subtended by 
bracteoles. Calyx with 2 almost free lips, the upper 2-lobed, the lower 3-lobed. Corolla glabrous (except A. 
aspera); wings lamellate (except A. villosa). Stamens in 2 groups of 5, filaments alternately long and short, 
anthers uniform, dorsifixed, versatile. Ovary stipitate; style glabrous; stigma terminal, minute or obscure. Pod 
stipitate, usually articulated, linear, straight, flattened, venation reticulate (except A. aspera), upper margin 
straight, lower lobed; articles indehiscent, raised over seeds. Seeds longitudinal in pod, asymmetric, reniform, 
usually flattened, ecarunculate. : 
A genus of c. 150 species, mostly in Central and S America and Africa. Six species occur in Australia, with 
4 in the NT and DR. [Reynolds, 1990] 
[Meme Leaflets withtlimaintVelltercsscretssecttectseccscsectrcsrsrsttrsertrcsetstscstersrticrttestess easviesrentt eres lore 2 
1. Leaflets with 2 or more main veins 3 
2. |Standard'<9/mmilong; pods: <6;mM Wide r:......-...s-cscsssssatessscsseisssiescesescdcacssoasesezcesseestasessnes A. indica 
2. Standard >10 mm long; pods >6 MM Wide ...........cssscsssssssesesseesesssesenesssessesssesesssseeseeeseneees A. aspera 
3. Pods glabrous, tuberculate, breaking into 1-seeded articles .........ssessscsseseeseessesteeneeseeneessess A. americana 
3. Pods hairy, smooth, articles breaking up to release the seeds leaving the 
margin ofthe pod entire on the:plantOencmteecctrttesssrssersessrtestiscrsetertsestericserstetserteesttes A. villosa 
*A. americana L. bracteoles variously ciliate. Stipules to 13 mm long. 
Leaves sensitive to touch, rachis (10)20-42 mm long; 
leaflets in 26-29 pairs, narrowly oblong, 4-7 mm long, 
Shrub to 1 m tall. Stems, leaf rachises and pedicels 
hispid; margins of stipules, leaves, bracts and 
