Notes on Entada in South Africa

Miscellaneous information concerning the Entada species which occur in the area delimited for the Flora of Southern Africa is presented, and the distribution of each species within this area is indicated.

The third species dealt with by Harvey was E. natalensis Benth., now regarded as a synonym of E. spicata (E.Mey.) Druce.Harvey recognized var.aculeata within E. natalensis, basing the variety on "a garden plant raised at Cape Town from Natal seeds, Commis.Genl.J. D. W att (Herb.Hk., D)".Recently the material housed at Trinity College, Dublin, was examined and among it were two specimens from J. D. W att's garden; one in flower and the other in fruit.Despite Harvey's mention of the presence of a speci men in Hooker's herbarium, there is apparently no specimen in the Kew Herbarium now.
The young stems and leaf-rhachides of the two syntypes of E. natalensis var.aculeata, particularly those of the fruiting specimen, are covered with numerous scattered recurved prickles, whence the varietal epithet.Recurved prickles are very variable in their occurrence in E. spicata, some specimens having only a few, some none at all, while others are very heavily armed.Con sequently, the numerous prickles on the syntypes of var.aculeata are considered as no more than part of the range of variation of the species and not worthy of varietal rank.Harvey also drew attention to the broader and more glabrous leaflets in var.aculeata but, once again, with the more abundant material now available, it is apparent that these characters likewise form part of the overall range of variation of the species and do not serve to distinguish var.aculeata from the remainder of the material.

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E. spicata is endemic in South Africa (see Fig. 2).The record of E. natalensis Benth.(i.e.E. spicata) by Sim, For.FI.P. E. Afr.: 53 (1909), probably refers to E. schlechteri (Harms) Harms although the description indicates E. spicata.E. spicata has not yet been collected in Mozambique but it may well occur in the southern part of that territory.Similarly, E. schlech teri, which is known only from southern Mozambique, may yet be found in our area.Unlike E. spicata which has yellowish-white flowers, E. schlechteri has red flowers.
The earliest available name for the fourth taxon oc curring in our area is E. arenaria Schinz. Schinz, in Mem. Herb. Boiss. 1: 118 (1900), based his descrip tion of E. arenaria on a specimen he collected in Amboland in South West Africa.The type specimen in the Zurich herbarium is a very poor one consisting of portion of a stem plus the remains of a few old pods.With such poor type material it is hardly sur prising that the type description is very brief and rather unsatisfactory.Brenan, in FI.Zamb. 3, 1: 20 (1970), adopted the name E. nana Harms for this taxon but, in doing so, stated: " It is possible that E. arenaria Schinz (in Mem. Herb. Boiss. 1: 118, 1900), based on a type from S.W. Africa, is conspecific with E. nana, and if this were proven it would be the earliest name for the species.The type of E. arenaria is, how ever, so inadequate, consisting only of a few ancient fragmentary pods, that I consider that this name should be rejected as being of uncertain application." I have examined Schinz 277, the type of E. arenaria and, despite its rather fragmentary nature and the above comment, am of the opinion that the specimen can be positively identified.All of the specimens col lected in South West Africa, especially those from the type locality of E. arenaria, agree with Schinz 277 in having longitudinally striate and densely puberulous stems, and pods which are of similar dimensions and texture.The specimens also agree in habit.Conse quently, I am satisfied that E. arenaria is an earlier name than E. nana and must therefore be adopted.
The material of subsp.microcarpa is still rather limited and by no means homogenous in its pods.The correct taxonomic status of subsp.microcarpa is still not absolutely clear at this stage but, as indicated by Brenan, it seems more prudent to regard it as a northern subspecies rather than to regard it as specifi cally distinct.

F
i g .1.-The known distribution of Entada arenaria, E. pur saetha and E. wahlbergii in the area delimited for the Flora of Southern Africa.