''Pithecellobium'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. It includes approximately 23 species from the tropical Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Islands and Florida. The generic name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

words πίθηκος (''pithêkos''), meaning "ape" or "monkey," and ἐλλόβιον (''ellobion''), meaning "earring," which refers to the coiled shape of the fruit pods. Plants of the genus are known generally as blackbeads.''Pithecellobium''.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Species

23 species are currently accepted: * ''

Pithecellobium × bahamense ''Pithecellobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes approximately 23 species from the tropical Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Islands and Florida. The generic ...

'' Northr. – Bahamas, southern Florida, and northern Cuba * '' Pithecellobium bipinnatum'' L.Rico – Costa Rica * '' Pithecellobium circinale'' (L.)

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

– Cuba and Hispaniola * '' Pithecellobium cynodonticum'' Barneby & J.W.Grimes – Haiti * '' Pithecellobium diversifolium'' – northeastern Brazil * ''

Pithecellobium domingense ''Pithecellobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes approximately 23 species from the tropical Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Islands and Florida. The generic ...

'' – Dominican Republic * ''

Pithecellobium dulce ''Pithecellobium dulce'', commonly known as Manila tamarind, Madras thorn, monkeypod tree or camachile, is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the Pacific Coast and adjacent highlands of Mexico, Central A ...

'' ( Roxb.)

– ''guamúchil'', ebony blackbead, monkeypod –

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

* ''

Pithecellobium excelsum ''Pithecellobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes approximately 23 species from the tropical Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Islands and Florida. The generic ...

'' (Kunth) Mart. – Ecuador and Peru * ''

Pithecellobium furcatum ''Pithecellobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes approximately 23 species from the tropical Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Islands and Florida. The generic ...

– southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Costa Rica * ''

Pithecellobium histrix ''Pithecellobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Fabaceae. It includes approximately 23 species from the tropical Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Islands and Flor ...

'' (A.Rich.) Benth. – Bahamas, Cuba, and Dominican Republic * ''

Pithecellobium hymenaeafolium ''Pithecellobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes approximately 23 species from the tropical Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Islands and Florida. The generic ...

'' (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.)

– southern Mexico to Venezuela * ''

Pithecellobium johansenii ''Pithecellobium johansenii'' is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae. It is found in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatem ...

'' Standl. –

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

* ''

Pithecellobium keyense ''Pithecellobium keyense'', commonly called Florida Keys blackbead, ''or Florida Key apes-earring, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family (Fabaceae). Distribution and habitat It is native to The Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Mexico (in ...

'' Coker – Florida Keys blackbead – southern Florida, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Cuba, southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize * '' Pithecellobium lanceolatum'' – Mexico through Central America and Colombia to Venezuela * '' Pithecellobium macrandrium'' – southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize * '' Pithecellobium nicoyanum'' – Costa Rica * '' Pithecellobium oblongum''

– southern Mexico and northern Colombia * ''

Pithecellobium peckii ''Pithecellobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes approximately 23 species from the tropical Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Islands and Florida. The generic ...

'' S.F.Blake – Guatemala and Belize * '' Pithecellobium roseum'' – ''buche colorado'' – Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and northern and west-central Brazil * '' Pithecellobium striolatum'' – Haiti * '' Pithecellobium subglobosum'' – northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela * '' Pithecellobium unguis-cati'' (L.)

– catclaw blackbead – Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, Colombia, Venezuela, and southern Florida * '' Pithecellobium velutinum'' – western Mexico (Sinaloa to Michoacán) * '' Pithecellobium winzerlingii'' – southern Mexico, Belize, and Honduras

Formerly placed here

Many species now in the genera ''

Albizia ''Albizia'' is a genus of more than 160 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, America and A ...

'', ''

Abarema ''Abarema'' is a neotropical genus in the family (biology), family Fabaceae. It is native to Brazil and Venezuela. Most of the species can be found in the Amazon Basin and the Guyana Highlands. They have a deep-green fernlike Leaf, foliage, with ...

'', ''

Jupunba ''Jupunba'' is a genus in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, ranging from southern Mexico to the Caribbean, Central America, and tropical South America. Species ''Jupunba'' has 38 accepted species: *'' Jupunba abbottii'' ...

'', and ''

Punjuba ''Punjuba'' is a genus in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Costa Rica as well as to western South America. Species ''Punjuba '' has 7 accepted species: *'' Punjuba callejasii'' *'' Punjuba centiflora'' *'' Punjuba foreroana'' *'' Punjuba ...

'' were formerly classified in ''Pithecellobium''. Other species previously included: * ''

Abarema cochliocarpos ''Abarema cochliocarpos'' is a species of tree in the legume family, Fabaceae. Its common name is barbatimão.Santos, S. C., et al. (2007)In vitro antimicrobial activity of the extract of ''Abarema cochliocarpos'' (Gomes) Barneby & Grimes.''Revis ...

'' (as ''P. cochliocarpum'') * ''

Archidendron bigeminum ''Archidendron bigeminum'' is a tree species in the legume family (Fabaceae). It is found in India and Sri Lanka. It is known as "kalitiya - කලටිය" in Sinhala. The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) in the 1998 IUCN Redlist re ...

'' (as ''P. bigeminum'', ''P. gracile'', ''P. nicobaricum'') * '' Chloroleucon foliolosum'' (as ''P. foliolosum'', ''P. grisebachianum'', ''P. myriophyllum'' Malme, ''P. oligandrum'') * '' Pseudalbizzia decandra'' (as ''P. decandrum'') * '' Pseudosamanea cubana'' (as ''P. bacona'') * ''

Zygia cognata ''Zygia cognata'' is a tree species in the legume family (Fabaceae). It is found in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Junior synonyms are:ILDIS (2005) * ''Feuilleea cognata'' (Schltdl.) Kuntze * ''Inga cognata'' Schltdl. * ''Inga stevensonii'' S ...

'' (as ''P. cognatum'', ''P. stevensonii'') * '' Zygia pithecolobioides'' (as ''P. pithecolobioides'', ''P. reductum'')

References

* * Fabaceae genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Flora of the Neotropical realm Taxa named by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius {{Mimosoideae-stub