Leptolobium panamense

Tilcayo Cats original · Plants · Sources and editorial assessment · Originals retention rule

Leptolobium panamense is a tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, native from Mexico through Central America to north-western Venezuela. Kew records it as introduced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has also been known as Acosmium panamense and Sweetia panamensis.

Appearance

The Smithsonian's Panama Tree Atlas describes trees five to twenty metres tall, with a straight trunk and grey bark. Each compound leaf has eleven to thirteen leaflets, arranged alternately along its axis rather than in opposite pairs. The leaflets have unbroken edges and blunt or slightly notched tips, with a paler underside.

The flowers are white and fragrant. Flattened, wing-like pods are three to nine centimetres long and change from green to yellowish or brown as they mature. The atlas distinguishes the tree from Lonchocarpus minimiflorus, which has opposite leaflets and purple flowers.

Regional records

The Panamanian atlas records the tree in lowland wet and very wet forest in the provinces of Darién and Panamá. It reports flowers and fruits between August and January in that regional account; this is not a flowering calendar for the whole species range.

The Yucatán scientific research centre's flora documents a herbarium collection from Campeche, Mexico, deposited at CICY and MEXU. It describes the wood as locally used and recognises the same accepted name.

Names

The combination Leptolobium panamense was published in 2008. The earlier name Sweetia panamensis is its basionym, while Acosmium panamense is another combination based on that name. These are different names for the same taxon in Kew's treatment, not three separate tree species.