Cajanus Explained

The genus Cajanus is a member of the plant family Fabaceae. There are 37 species, mainly distributed across Africa, Asia and Australasia.

Species include the pigeon pea (C. cajan), which is a significant food crop.

The natural range of Cajanus species includes West Africa, Madagascar and the Comoros, the Indian Subcontinent, Indochina, southern China and Taiwan, Malesia, New Guinea, and northern Australia. Typical habitats include seasonally-dry tropical open forest, woodland, and grassland, often in rocky or disturbed areas. Some species, including Cajanus cajan, have been introduced to the tropical Americas, elsewhere in Africa, and to central Asia.

Cajanus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Endoclita malabaricus.

Species include:^[1]

• Cajanus acutifolius
• Cajanus albicans
• Cajanus aromaticus
• Cajanus cajan – pigeon pea, Congo-pea
• Cajanus cajanifolius
• Cajanus cinereus
• Cajanus confertiflorus
• Cajanus crassicaulis
• Cajanus crassus
• Cajanus elongatus
• Cajanus geminatus
• Cajanus goensis
• Cajanus grandiflorus
• Cajanus heynei
• Cajanus hirtopilosus
• Cajanus kerstingii
• Cajanus lanceolatus
• Cajanus lanuginosus
• Cajanus latisepalus
• Cajanus lineatus
• Cajanus mareebensis
• Cajanus marmoratus
• Cajanus mollis
• Cajanus niveus
• Cajanus platycarpus
• Cajanus pubescens
• Cajanus reticulatus
• Cajanus scarabaeoides
• Cajanus sericeus
• Cajanus trinervius
• Cajanus villosus
• Cajanus viscidus
• Cajanus volubilis

External links

• Pigeon pea (archive link, was dead)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Genus Nomenclature in GRIN. 2010-08-06. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090507004556/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?1854. 2009-05-07.