Kerstingielia

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Plant Characteristics
Cultivation
Scientific Names

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Read about Kerstingielia in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Kerstingielia (Dr. Kersting, of Togoland). Leguminosae. A very recently described African plant that produces a bean underground, much after the manner of peanut. It is widely cult, by the natives of Trop. Afr. for food, K. geocarpa, Harms (Voandzeia poissonii, Chev.). It is a prostrate herb, the main st. creeping, 2-3 in. long, and rooting at the nodes: lvs. 3-foliolate, rising on slender petioles, the lfts. broadly ovate or obovate, obtuse: fls. small, in pairs or solitary, subsessile in the axils (on the ground); corolla papilionaceous, greenish white but the standard pale violet at tip: pod maturing underground, indehiscent, usually divided by 1 or 2 constrictions into 2 or 3 joints; seeds oblong or oblong-ovoid, about 1/4in. long, white, red or mottled: "after fertilization, the solid base or stipe of the pistil, which in the fl. is very short, lengthens into a carpopodium and at the same time turns toward the ground; then the corolla and the style are thrown off. The ovary, still very small, is pushed out of the calyx, and by the root-like carpopodium gradually driven into the ground, where finally the growth and the maturation of the ovary into the seed-bearing pod take place."— Kew Bull., 1912, p. 209, with fig. See Voandzeia. L.H.B.


The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.


Cultivation

Propagation

Pests and diseases

Varieties

Gallery

References

External links