The native Casalpinias like this one, which I am assuming to be C. crista, are mostly prickly vines that occupy coastal forest or strandline habitats. Those by the shore are known as Nicker beans. I believe the form of the stipule helps to tell the two common speceis, C. crista and C. bonduc apart. This species also look like it has more elliptic and pointed leaves. More on this when I get more fully acquainted with these fellows.
About David Tng
I am
David Tng, a hedonistic botanizer who pursues plants with a fervour. I chase the opportunity to delve into various aspects of the study of plants. I have spent untold hours staring at mosses and allied plants, taking picture of pollen, culturing orchids in clean cabinets, counting tree rings, monitoring plant flowering times, etc. I am currently engrossed in the study of plant ecology (a grand excuse to see 'anything I can). Sometimes I think of myself as a shadow taxonomist, a sentimental ecologist, and a spiritual environmentalist - but at the very root of it all, a "plant whisperer"!
Leaf Whispering in the Tropics 