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Entada phaseoloides

Kākā Vai

Water Vine

Multimedia & Additional Resources

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Image:	Leaves, flowers, and fruit (pod)	62KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Water Vine, St. Thomas Bean

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Kākā Vai (RR), Kākā (AT AK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE se.Asia - China - Malesia - Cooks

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Land, mountains (+++)

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Material (Adornment)

KEY FEATURES: High-climbing vine, to 40+m. STEM rough, usually corkscrew-like, to 25cmØ. LEAVES compound; primary stalk (=rachis) has 2 branches (=pinnae) each with 2-4 pairs leaflets; rachis w/wo terminal, divided-tendril. LEAFLETS opposite, wide-oval, to 10x6cm, edge smooth, glossy dark green; stalklet very short. FLOWERS many on a spike to 30cm forming a white bottle-brush; stamens 10, long, white. FRUIT giant flat pod, to 150x12x2cm; thick outer skin sheds in segments, and seeds are shed in thin 1-seed envelopes. SEEDS to ~20, round and flat, ~50x10mm(ØxH), glossy dark reddish-brown.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+++	+	++	-		+	-		-

Northern Group: -
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Entada phaseoloides (Linnaeus)
SYNONYMS: Lens phaseoloides Linnaeus; Entada scandens Benth.[incl. TC]; Mimosa scandens Linnaeus

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ROSIDAE; Fabales (Legumes); MIMOSACEAE

More Information

GENERAL NOTE: Seed used in necklaces (‘ei). Formerly, bark used for a coarse tapa on ‘Ātiu (Gill, 1885:171) - Whistler (1990) concludes that this was mistaken.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.671 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.414 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.3/057 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.278 I Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.58 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.365a Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands
p.83 McCormack/Kunzle - Rarotonga's Mountain Tracks and Plants

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM04b, zupM05a, zD02, zupD05b

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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