Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.28.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Diocleinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.7–1.8 cm long; 0.5–0.7 cm wide; length less than twice as long as width to 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; symmetrical; oblong (when 2–4 seeded), or ovate (when 1 seeded); not inflated; compressed; with beak (1–2 mm long); straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted (when 2–4 seeded), or not constricted (when 1 seeded); margin constricted along both margins to slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; green; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent, or sericeous; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth; not veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Endocarp present (Lewis, 1988); septate (Lewis, 1988); without wings. Seed(s) 1–4 (Lewis, 1988; Léon and Alain, 1951); neither overlapping nor touching. Aril absent.
Seed: Ca. 3.4 mm long (Lews, 1988); ca. 2.8 mm wide (Lewis, 1988Lewis, 1988:
Lewis GP. 1988. Four little-known species of Leguminosae from Cuba. Willdenowia 18:223–229.); not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; sub reniform (lewis, 1988Lewis, 1988:
Lewis GP. 1988. Four little-known species of Leguminosae from Cuba. Willdenowia 18:223–229.); 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; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; glabrous; smooth (Lewis, 1988Lewis, 1988:
Lewis GP. 1988. Four little-known species of Leguminosae from Cuba. Willdenowia 18:223–229.: Fig. 4). Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent (Lewis, 1988: Fig. 4). Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split (assumed).
Lackey (1981) noted that Herpyza is "very poorly known." Lewis (1988) published fruit-seed illustrations which were drawn from the type: "1865, Wright 2325 (K)." Urban (1908) also published a fruit-seed illustration. A single immature fruit of H. grandiflora (A.H.R. Grisebach) C.H. Wright was studied.