''Entada elephantina'', commonly known as the eland's wattle or elephant's root, is a

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often interch ...

in the mimosoid clade of

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

s. They occur widely and in several bioregions of southern Africa in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, and Lesotho. Considerable size variation has been noted, and

polyploidy Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two complete sets of chromosomes, one fro ...

was suspected.

Description

They have a suffrutescent habit typical of their genus. They produce unbranched and unarmed aerial stems of less than a metre tall. The various populations show considerable variation in terms of the number of pinnae pairs and the number, size and shape of the leaflets. They flower from September to November and are pollinated mainly by the African honeybee. The flowering racemes are typically confined to the lower part of the stem, so that the pods are usually suspended just above ground level, or alternatively rest inconspicuously on the ground.

Similar species

'' Entada burkei'' has similar aerial parts, but its seeds are consistently smaller than those of ''E. elephantina''.cf. Bothalia 11:252 (1974) Mature specimens of ''E. burkei'' especially, produce their flowering racemes on the branched stems, so that the pods appear in conspicuous positions some distance above ground. Seed shape varies considerably in ''E. burkei'', from elliptic to nearly quadrate if they are tightly compacted and laterally compressed in their pods. In either species the two pod valves will separate from their margin, which persists as a nearly continuous and empty frame, reminiscent of some '' Entada'' pods.cf. Palmer & Pitman, Trees S. Afr. 2:827, 1973 Pods of ''E. elephantina'' generally disintegrate and disappear more rapidly than those of ''E. burkei'', where the two pod valves roll back and persist with their margins for many months.

Gallery

file:Elephantorrhiza elephantina, bloeiwyse, Faerie Glen NR, h.jpg, file:Elephantorrhiza elephantina, bloeiwyse, Faerie Glen NR, i.jpg, file:Mimosoideae spp Taub72, crop1.png, file:Elephantorrhiza elephantina, bloeiwyse, Faerie Glen NR, d.jpg, file:Mimosoideae spp Taub72, crop2.png, file:Elephantorrhiza elephantina, loof en peule, Faerie Glen NR, b.jpg,

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15534693 Mimosoids Flora of Namibia Endangered plants Geoxyles