Shrubs or trees, to 4 m. Stems glabrous or pilose, hairs persistent, close-pressed, golden or clear in age, developing leaves and young stems with same pubescence of simple hairs; pith solid or spongy. Leaves 13–25+ cm; stipules 0.3–0.4 cm, with conspicuous inner fold throughout, hairs dense, close-pressed, inner fold and base with stipitate, multicellular glands; pulvinus slightly more than 1/2 as long as petiole; rachis ± sericeous, without stipitate glands, obscure gland(s) present at petiolule base; stipels reduced in size between successive leaflets, long-filamentous glandular; leaflets 28–36+, blades elliptic-ovate to oblong, base acute, apex obtuse to acute, surfaces silky sericeous abaxially, usually glabrous adaxially. Peduncles (0.6–)1.7–2.1(–4.1) cm. Inflorescences 5–15+-flowered, racemes. Flowers (0.7–)0.9–1(–1.3) cm; calyx ± zygo­morphic, lobes 5, short-acuminate, rim of tube villose, stalked glands between abaxial lobes absent in fruit; corolla yellow, banner venation sometimes darker; banner ovate, base cordate-truncate, apex emarginate, becoming strongly reflexed and contorted, calluses as relatively small, acute teeth at claw base, thickened, knoblike at base of blade/top of claw; wings without basal tooth; keel ± same color throughout, apex acute, curved strongly inward, without basal tooth; stamens incurved within keel; style recurved; ovules 4–6. Legumes red- to gray-brown, without horizontal mottling in age, 4-angled, square in cross section, straight or slightly falcate, (0.8–)4.4–5.5(–6.5) × (0.7–)0.8(–0.9) cm, thick, woody, seed chambers apparent in young fruits becoming obscure at maturity, margins of young fruits with shallow thin ridges resembling early wings of S. punicea or S. drummondii, ridges becoming thickened and rounded at maturity, beak short-pyramidal, (0.2–)0.4–0.7(–1.3) cm, indehiscent; stipe (0.4–)0.5–0.6(–0.9) cm. Seeds (1–)4 or 5(or 6), reddish brown to gray, without mottling, reniform-orbicular. 2n = 12.

Phenology: Flowering early summer–early fall.
Habitat: Wet areas, ripar­ian, wetlands, coastal, disturbed sites.
Elevation: 0–20 m.

Distribution

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Fla., Miss., South America, introduced also in se Mexico (Veracruz), West Indies, Central America.

Discussion

Sesbania virgata is native to northern Argentina and southern Paraguay and has been introduced to numer­ous port cities in the Americas. In the flora area, it is known from the Pensacola, Florida, region and from several populations along the coastline southeastward to Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and westward to Harrison County, Mississippi. The most distinguishing characteristic of the species is the quadrangular pod.

Sesbania affinis De Wildeman (1904) is a later homo­nym (not Schrader ex de Candolle 1825) that pertains here.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.