Aganope 

Taxonomy

Aganope F.A.W. Miquel Fl. Ind. Bat. 1(1): 151. 2 Aug 1855.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 6 studied; 6 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 4.5–25 cm long; 2.5–5 cm wide; 0.25–0.8 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 to curved; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; elliptic, or irregular; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures unequally curved; narrowing slightly once or twice on one side; not inflated; compressed to flattened; without beak; rounded at apex, or short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit to oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous to coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins, or constricted on 1 margin and slightly constricted on the other margin; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1, or 2; wing(s) 2.5–10 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture, or both sutures; substipitate, or nonstipitate; with the stipe 0.1–3 mm long; indehiscent. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; mottled; brown; with brown overlay (darker); mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or glabrate, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; sericeous; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed, or pubescence denser near sutures, sparser centrally; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; papillose; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome, or mottled; brown, or tan to brown; with mottling more or less uniform (dark); with brown overlay; smooth to scurfy; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1–6; length parallel with fruit length to oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 2–3 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; triangular. Aril absent.

Seed: 21–28 mm long; 9.5–17 mm wide; 3–6.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; flattened; with surface wrinkled; 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 infrequent mottles; brown; with brown overlay (darker); glabrous; not smooth, or smooth; with elevated features; veined and wrinkled, or veined, or wrinkled; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum to near base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; darker than testa; flush. Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; 1.3–1.8 mm long; with curved outline; circular, or fusiform; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; flush; within halo; halo darker than testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; 0.5–3.5 mm long; with margins straight; triangular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; similar color as testa; darker than testa; brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons not smooth; 1–3 grooves on each face, or 5–7-branched grooves (from veins of testa) on each face, or wrinkled; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length, or 1 longer than other; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle, or not entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; wavy; similar at apex; not concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; brown, or green, or tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique to right angled (nearly); oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; lobe tip straight, or curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary to moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Tropical Africa to Southeastern Asia.

Old World; Africa, India, and Indochina.

Generic Notes

Geesink (1984) placed Aganope and Xeroderris in Ostryocarpus making species transfers. Following Wiersema et al. (1990), Thothathri (1992), Lock and Heald (1994), Polhill (1994a, 1994b), and Schot (1994), we recognize Aganope as a separate genus from Ostryocarpus and Xeroderris.

Tribal Notes

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).