Sesbania grandiflora – Agathicheera, Agathi, Agasthi, Argathi, Basna, Rudramaram, Basna, Humming bird tree, Sesban-plant

Description

  Small soft-wooded trees; up to 7 m tall; branchlets pubescent. Leaves 18-30 cm long; leaflets 12-25 pairs, 1.5-3.5 x 0.6-1.2 cm, oblong, base rounded, apex obtuse, emarginate, glabrous to appressed-pubescent on both surfaces, glaucous beneath; stipules 5-8 mm long, ovate. Racemes to 8 cm long, lax, 2-4-flowered. Flowers 7.5-10 cm long, pendulous; pedicels to 2 cm long; bracts and bracteoles 3-4 mm long, linear-oblong. Calyx 2-3 cm long, campanulate; lobes triangular. Corolla pink or white, 7.5 -10 cm long; standard to 10 x 6 cm, reflexed. Staminal sheath 3.5-6 cm long. Pods 30-45 cm long, 5-8 mm wide, slender, falcate or straight. Seeds c. 30, reddish-brown.