Sesbania
(from Sesban, the Arabic name of S. aegyptiaca). Pea-tree. Including Agati (inadvertently kept distinct in vol. i.), Daubentonia, and Glottidium. ORD. Leguminosae. A genus comprising about sixteen species of stove or greenhouse herbs or shrubs, sometimes arborescent, inhabiting the warmer regions. Flowers yellow, dull scarlet, purple, variegated, or white, on slender pedicels; calyx broad; standard orbicular or ovate, spreading or reflexed, the wings falcate-oblong, the keel incurved; bracts and bracteoles bristly; racemes axillary, lax. Pods linear or rarely oblong, compressed. Leaves abruptly pinnate; leaflets many-jugate, entire; stipules highly caducous; stipels minute or absent. The species best known to cultivation are described below. All thrive in a compost of loam and sandy peat. The annuals may be increased by seeds; the shrubby kinds by cuttings of the half-ripened, stubby shoots, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, in heat. S. aegyptiaca (Egyptian). Sesban. fl. yellow; standard roundish and without dots. July and August. l., leaflets ten pairs, oblong-linear, obtuse, and rather mucronate. h. 5ft. Egypt, &c., 1680. Stove shrub. S. grandiflora (large-flowered). fl. rose-red, white, or rusty-yellow, large; standard oval-oblong, shorter than the wings; racemes few-flowered. July and August. Pods 1 1/2ft. long. l. consisting of many pairs of glabrous leaflets. h. 14ft. to 26ft. East Indies, 1768. Stove tree.
S. longifolia (long-leaved). fl. yellow; racemes a little shorter than the leaves. June to August. l. having eleven or twelve pairs of lanceolate, acute leaflets. h. 6ft. New Spain, 1820. Stove shrub.
S. macrocarpa (large-fruited). fl. yellow and red, dotted with purple; racemes shorter than the leaves, one to four-flowered. August and September. Pods 8in. to 12in. long, pendulous, many-seeded. l., leaflets oblong-linear, obtuse, mucronate. h. 3ft. Florida, Mexico, 1820. Greenhouse annual. S. picta (painted). fl. yellow, the standard variegated with black, dotted lines; racemes many-flowered, nodding. July and August. l. with twelve to sixteen pairs of oblong-linear, obtuse leaflets. h. 4ft. to 6ft. New Spain. 1823. Stove biennial. (B. R. 873.) S. platycarpa (flat-fruited). A synonym of S. vesicaria. S. punicea (red). fl. vermillion, in racemes. July. l. like those of the false Acacia. h. 3ft. Texas, 1820. A common plant in various parts of Banda Oriental and Rio Grande, where it grows into a large, handsome shrub. Stove. SYN. Daubentonia punicea.
S. vesicaria (bladdery). fl. yellow, few, loose; standard reniform, very short and broad; racemes axillary, pedunculate. July and August. l., primordial ones ovate, simple, the rest abruptly pinnate, many-jugate. h. 5ft. to 7ft. Florida and Carolina, 1816. Greenhouse annual. SYNS. S. platycarpa, Glottidium floridanum.