Pithecolobium
(from pithecos, an ape, and lobos, the lobe of the ear; in allusion to the native name, Monkey's Earring). Curl Brush Bean. ORD. Leguminosae. This genus comprises about 100 species of unarmed or prickly-stipuled, stove trees or shrubs, extending over tropical regions, mostly in Asia and America, a few being natives of Africa and Australia. Flowers often white, similar to those of Inga; calyx campanulate or tubular; corolla tubular or funnel-shaped; peduncles solitary or sub-fasciculate, axillary or racemose, or fasciculate at the tips of the branches; heads globose, or rarely in oblong or almost cylindrical spikes. Pods compressed or flat, either spirally twisted or much curved, bivalved or rarely indehiscent. Leaves bipinnate; leaflets sometimes small and many-jugate, sometimes large and few-jugate, occasionally tergeminate, bigeminate, or geminate (pinnae one-jugate, three, two, or one-foliolate); stipules sometimes small or inconspicuous, sometimes persistent, hard or spinescent. Few of the species have been introduced. For culture, see Inga.
P. pruinosum (frosty). fl. white, with long, exserted stamens, and growing in globular umbels from the axils of the upper leaves. l., pinnae very regularly in one or two pairs, with or without an odd one; petiole and each rachis varying from 1in. to 6in. long; leaflets usually three or four pairs on the terminal pinnae, very irregular in number, size, and shape. Queensland and New South Wales, 1869. A beautiful tree, having the young branches, foliage, and inflorescence, covered with a rusty pubescence.