Purple Stickpea

Anneslia purpurea (L.) Britton, Mem. Brookiyn Bot. Gard. 1: 50. 1918.
Mimosa purpurea L. Sp. PI. 517. 1753.
Inga purpurea Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 1021. 1806.
Inga oblusifolia Willd. loc. cit. 1022. 1806.
Mimosa oblusifolia Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 1: 46. 1810.
Calliandra purpurea ^enlh.'LonA. Journ. Bot. 3: 104. 1844.
Calliandra oblusifolia Karst. Fl. Col. 2: 41. 1863.
Feuilleea purpurea Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 188. 1891.
A small tree, 4—5 m. high, or shrubby, glabrous throughout. Stipules ovate, striate, almost 4 mm. long; petioles slender, 0.5-3 cm. long; pinnae 1 pair; leaflets 3-8 pairs, chartaceous, elliptic to obovate or ovate, 4-5-nerved, reticulate-veined, 6-20 mm. long, shining above, the apex rounded, obtuse or acutish; peduncles axillary, solitary, 4 cm. long, or shorter; heads several-flowered; calyx about 2 mm. long; corolla about 6 mm. long; stamens purple, about 15 mm. long, the sheath included or a little exserted; legume glabrous, 5-8 cm. long, 10-13 mm. wide.
Type locality: tropical America.
Distribution: St. Kitts; Antigua; Guadeloupe; Montserrat; Martinique; St. Vincent; Grenada; northern Venezuela (according to Bentham.)

Perennial, Trees, S hrubs, Woody throughout, Nodules present, Stems erect or ascending, Stems or branches arching, spreading or decumbent, Stems 1-2 m tall, Stems greater than 2 m tall, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules green, triangulate to lanceolate or foliaceous, Stipules persistent, Stipules free, Leaves compound, Leaves bipinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves hairy on one or both surfaces, Inflorescences globose heads, capitate or subcapitate, Inflorescence axillary, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers sessile or nearly so, Flowers actinomorphic or somewhat irregular, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx glabrous, Petals united, valvate, Petals greenish yellow, Stamens numerous, more than 10, Stamens monadelphous, united below, Stamens long exserted, Filaments glabrous, Filaments pink or red, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit free ly dehiscent, Fruit elongate, straight, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit glabrous or glabrate, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Seed with elliptical line or depression, pleurogram, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.

Calliandra purpurea, the soldierwood, is a species of flowering plants of the genus Calliandra in the family Fabaceae.