Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.14.21.
Tribe: Aeschynomeneae.
Subtribe: Poiretiinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 77 studied; ca. 80 in genus.
Seed: 1.5–2.3 mm long; 1–1.5 mm wide; 0.5–0.8 mm thick; not overgrown; angular, or not angular; asymmetrical; elliptic (reniform), or irregular (reniform), or reniform (with or without beak); compressed; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between 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 frequent mottles, or infrequent mottles; brown (to reddish-brown or purplish-brown), or tan; with red overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; within rim, or within halo; halo lighter than testa; rim color lighter than testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; with margins curved; 2 circular mounds separated by groove; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum (or at least to the hilar rim); mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; reddish brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick, or 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; partially concealing radicle; split over radicle; with lobes; with lobes not touching; 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; bulbose, or linear; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width, or oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons, or 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
Tropical and warm temperate regions of Old and New World.
New World, or Old World; southeastern United States, West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and South America; Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas; Africa, Madagascar, Southwest Asia, India, Indochina, China, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, Australia, and Macaronesia (Asia (southeastern)).
Tribe Aeschynomeneae
Rudd (1981a) recognized four subtribes of Aeschynomeneae: Ormocarpinae V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.01–3.14.08), Aeschynomeninae (genera 3.14.09–3.14.16), Discolobinae (A.E. Burkart) V.E. Rudd (genus 3.14.17: Discolobium), Poiretiinae (A.E. Burkart) V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.18–3.14.21), and Stylosanthinae (G. Bentham) V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.22–13.4.26). Tribal and subtribal placement of Diphysa is based on Lavin (1987; Polhill, 1994a, 1994b), and not on Polhill and Sousa (1981), who placed Diphysa in Robinieae. Bailey et al. (1997), using the chloroplast rpl2 intron and ORF184, suggested that Brya (11.01), Cranocarpus (11.02), Phylacium (11.22), and Neocollettia (11.26) are not members of Desmodieae (11) and that they probably belong in Aeschynomeneae.