Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Print Fact Sheet

Caesalpinia decapetala

Common name

Mysore thorn, Thorny poinciana, Wait-a-while

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

Disturbed forest and woodland, grassy areas, roadsides, and stream banks. Coastal north from the Wollongong district.

Notes

Introduced climber to 20 m tall, or a scrambling shrub. Prickles or thorns to 5 mm long on stems, leaf stalks, leaf rachises, and flower stalks. Bark rough at the base, smooth above. Stems hairy, sometimes almost hairless. Leaves alternating up the stems, 7-40 cm long, compound, with 8-20 pinnae each 2.5-7.5 cm long, each with 10-24 leaflets each 0.6-2 cm long, 2-8 mm wide, both surfaces finely hairy, lower surface paler than the upper surface, tips blunt. Flowers white to yellow, with 5 petals each 10-15 mm long, in elongated clusters 15-35 cm long. Flowers Winter to Spring. 

Family was Caesalpiniaceae.

General Biosecurity Duty with additional restrictions all NSW.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Caesalpinia~decapetala  (accessed 6 January, 2021)