Details
| Eppo code |
SEBPA |
| Family |
Fabaceae |
| Species |
Sesbania pachycarpa DC. |
| Weed type |
Broadleaf |
| Global description | |
| Cotyledons | |
| First leaves |
The first sheet is simple. It is carried by a short petiole cylindrical box at the base by two linear stipules, 2 mm long and soon caducous. The lamina is elliptical elongated with 2 cm long and 4 to 5 mm wide. The margin is entire and the apex sometimes mucronate. Pubescent.The central midrib is white and visible. The leaves are compound and alternate. They are paripinnate with 7 to 15 pairs of opposite leaflets. The end of the rachis exceeds the last pair of leaflets of 1 to 2 mm. |
| General habit |
An erect, robust, softly woody, non-aculeate annual or biennial herb, 1-3 m tall. |
| Underground system |
Tap root. |
| Stem |
The stem is cylindrical and full. It is smooth and finely striated longitudinally, sometimes slightly grooved. The interior of stem is white pithy. The cross-section reaches 2 to 3 cm in diameter. |
| Leaf |
The leaves are compound and alternate. They are paripinnate, contain up to 60 pairs of leaflets and measures up to 45 cm long. The petiole is long, 2 cm, it is framed at the base by two long linear stipules 6 to 9 mm and having a few fine hairs on the margin. The lower side of the rachis is marked with small conical roughness arranged in line. The leaflets are borne on very short petioles. The lamina is oblong to elliptic. Its length is 6 to 15 mm and width of 2 to 3 mm. The leaflets are the longer located in the middle part of the sheet. The margin is entire, the base is rounded, slightly asymmetrical. The apex is rounded and mucronate. The faces are smooth with only a few fine hairs along the veins and margin. Leaflets are opposite along the rachis or slightly shifted to seem alternate. The sheet ends with the rachis, exceeding from 1 to 2 mm the insertion point of the last pair of leaflets. |
| Inflorescence |
The flowers are grouped in small clusters of 3 to 6, in the axils of leaves. |
| Flower |
The calyx forms a cup, 5 mm long and ended with 5 short triangular teeth. The corolla is 25 mm long. The upper petal (banner) is rounded at the top. It bears at the base, two elongated appendages rounded at the end, not terminated by a point free. It is yellow, dotted and ridges with purple-brown on the outside. The lateral petals (wings) are elongated, having at the base of the external face 2 small wings. They are yellow in color. The lower petal (keel) bears two recurved teeth in the middle. It is greenish brown, finely striated with purple. Nets with 9 stamens are fused applied in splint to the ovary. The tenth stamen, dorsal, is free. |
| Fruit |
The fruits are pods that can measure from 15 to 25 cm long and 3-4 mm wide. The margin of the pod is marked by constrictions at the bulkhead separating the boxes. The apex forms a sharp beak. Pods can contain more than 30 seeds. |
| Seed |
Seeds brown, greenish or dark reddish-brown, 3-3.5 × 2.5-3 mm, 2-2.5 mm thick, ± cube-shaped to subcylindrical, the hilum in a small central circular pit. |
| Biology |
S. pachycarpa is an annual species. It multiplies by seed only. |
| Ecology |
In wetter parts of floodplains, on river banks and in seasonally inundated rainwater pans, on alluvium and black clays, in wet times of the year can be found in standing water up to 1 m deep; 500-1200 m. |
| Origin | |
| World distribution |
West Africa, Central Africa and East Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia, Congo (Katanga), Tanzania, Namibia (Okavango area) and Madagascar. |
| Global weediness | |
| Local weediness |
Benin: Frequent but not abundant. |
| Control |
Management options: http://www.afroweeds.org/network/pg/file/read/1902/general-guidelines-for-weed-management-in-lowland-rice |
| Local control | |
| Use | |
| Sources |
Le Bourgeois, T., Merlier, H. 1995. Adventrop - Les adventices d'Afrique soudano-sahélienne. Cirad, Montpellier, France. |
| Web links |