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Guilandina bonduc

species of plant

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ21874434 ↗
Source-derived summary

Guilandina bonduc, commonly known as nicker nut amongst other names, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae that has a mostly pantropical distribution. It is a scrambling, thorny shrub or vine that is mostly found close to coastlines, and was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus.

Description

Guilandina bonduc grows as a scrambling shrub or climber, up to 8 m (30 ft) long. The stems are irregularly covered with curved prickles. The leaves are large and bi-pinnate, up to 40 cm (16 in) long with scattered prickles on the rachises and blades. There are four to eleven pairs of pinnae, 5 to 20 cm (2 to 8 in) long with five to ten pairs of pinnules. The pinnules are 15 to 40 mm (0.6 to 1.6 in) long, elliptic, oblong or ovate with acute tips and entire margins.

The inflorescence is an axillary raceme, often branched, covered with short hairs and up to 15 cm (6 in) long. The jointed pedicels are up to 6 mm (0.2 in) long. The sepals are shorter than the petals which are around 10 mm (0.4 in) long; the petals are yellow, sometimes with a spot of orange near the base of the keel.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Guilandina bonduc” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Guilandina, bonduc and species, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical orientation to terminology and classification, particularly when read beside dated observations, specimens or technical literature. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1753—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Guilandina, bonduc and species is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “species of plant” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21874434. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1753.

Critical limits

Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Guilandina bonduc”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Guilandina bonduc primary sources, Guilandina bonduc archive and Guilandina research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Guilandina bonduc”?
  2. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
  3. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Guilandina bonduc” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.