Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 5–10 cm long; 1.3–1.5 cm wide; ca. 0.25 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; linear to moniliform; with both sutures nearly straight, or both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; flattened; without beak, or with beak (short); declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base to rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 2–3 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture (upper); nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down. Replum invisible. Epicarp with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; hairs appressed; 1 type of pubescence; densely sericeous; pubescence brown (rusty); with pubescence uniformly distributed; simple hairs; pliable; hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; elevated features; veined, or not veined; transversely veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome; golden tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 2–8; length oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1.5–2 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril and tongue-aril; entire; brown.
Seed: Ca. 6 mm long; ca. 4.5 mm wide; ca. 2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; elliptic to reniform; compressed; with surface smooth; 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, or mottled; with infrequent mottles; reddish brown; with black overlay; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; ca. 1 mm long; with curved outline; broadly elliptic; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; ca. 1.5 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; flush; similar color as testa; darker than testa; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm absent. 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; partially 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 oblique; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; lobe tip curved; with 180 degree turn; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
Tribe Millettieae
Geesink (1981) treated this tribe, as others before him, under the tribal name Tephroseae, but we now know that its correct name is Millettieae. Recent tribal studies (Geesink, 1981, 1984; Polhill, 1994a, 1994b) have arranged the genera in alphabetical order without phylogenetic numbers. Geesink (1984) monographed tribe Millettieae, and presented descriptive notes about fruits and seeds and in situ fruit and seed drawings. However, we are not entirely following Geesink (1984) for generic parameters because he either questioned the status of many of his new genera or did not make the necessary species transfers. The few new genera which he clearly recognized are being accepted. Lavin et al. (1998) developed a preliminary infratribal classification of six informal groups using phytochrome nucleotides: Millettia group, Lonchocarpus group, Derris group, Tephrosia group, "primitive" group, and Phaseoleae group. Lavin (1987) transferred Sphinctospermum to Millettieae. Lavin and Doyle (1991) carried out cladistic analyses integrating morphological and chloroplast DNA data, and concluded that it is a member of Robineae where we have placed it (now 8.12).
Authors: J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, A.L. Weitzman, M.J. Dallwitz, K.R. Thiele
Content last updated April 2003
Released April 2024 on idtools.org
