Aenictophyton

Taxonomy

Aenictophyton A.T. Lee Contr. New South Wales Natl. Herb. 4: 422. 1973.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.23.10.
Tribe: Bossiaeeae.
Group: Bossiaea.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.5–1.7 cm long; 0.4–0.5 cm wide; 0.1–0.2 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; oblong; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; flattened; without beak; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; stipitate; with the stipe 5–10 mm long; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; passive. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown to reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present (and reddish-brown); thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome; white (ish), or red (brownish because whitish thin endocarp does not conceal mesocarp color); smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–4; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril present; dry; when dry hooded; entire; white.

Seed: 4–5 mm long; 1.5–2.5 mm wide; 1.5–2.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; circular to oblong; compressed; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Cuticle not exfoliating; not inflated; not wrinkled. Testa present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brownish black; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by aril; without faboid split; punctiform; marginal according to radicle tip; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; yellow; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Australia (Northern Territory and Western).

Old World; Australia (northern territory and western).

Generic Notes

Lee (1973) founded the genus and related it to other genera in the Bossiaeae. Only two seed-fruit samples were available for our study, and both were consistent with each other and with Lee's limited seed-fruit data.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Bossiaeeae

The Bossiaeeae with ten genera traditionally has been divided into two groups in part on fruit and seed characters. The Templetonia group with the first four genera (including at the time Lamprolobium, 23.02) has non-winged, coriaceous legumes and compressed seeds bearing a collarlike often-lipped aril (except Templetonia biloba (G. Bentham) R.M. Polhill), and a short, straight radicle. The Bossiaea group with the remaining genera has the legumes keeled to winged or not so, plump seeds often covered by a hooded caplike aril (lacking in Muelleranthus (23.08) and Ptychosema (23.09)), and a slender deflexed radicle exserted from the cotyledons. Crisp and Weston (1987, pages 105–107) in their cladistic analysis of the Bossiaeeae, Brongniartieae (22), and Mirbelieae (24), provided compelling evidence that the Bossiaeeae should be redefined to include only the Bossiaea group (genera 23.05–23.10). The Templetonia group would be moved to the Brongniartieae becoming genera three through eight, after Brongniarta (22.01) and Harpalyce (22.02). The proposed generic sequence would be: 3, Templetonia (23.01); 4, Lamprolobium; 5, Plagiocarpus (23.03); 6, ?Genus A (Templetonia incana J.H. Ross); 7, ?Genus B (Templetonia biloba (G. Bentham) R.M. Polhill); and 8, Hovea (23.04). They (Crisp and Weston, 1995) retracted their proposal to transfer the Templetonia group because of Chappill's (1995) cladistic analysis of the entire family, and we have used the traditional circumscriptions of the two tribes (Pohill, 1994a, 1994b).