Airyantha 

Taxonomy

Airyantha R.K. Brummitt Kew Bull. 22: 375. Dec 1968.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.19.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Baphia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 2 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 3–4.5 cm long; 0.9–1.2 cm wide; 0.5–1 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; curved, or 0.5-coiled, or 1-coiled; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; moniliform and coiled, or moniliform and falcate, or irregular; with both sutures parallelly curved, or both sutures unequally curved; not inflated; compressed; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; tapered at apex, or short tapered at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit, or almost reaching longitudinal axis of fruit; long tapered at base, or tapered at base; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; tomentose to velutinous; with pubescence brown; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; 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. Mesocarp present; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; streaked; brown, or tan; with streaking dark over seed chambers (some seed chambers); with brown overlay; smooth and fibrous; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) (1–)2–7; length parallel with fruit length to oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 2 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; fimbriate; ivory.

Seed: 8–12 mm long; 6–9.5 mm wide; 5–7.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical (slightly); circular to ovate; compressed to terete (sub); with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes, or without 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; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; purplish black to red; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. 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; larger than punctiform; 0.8–1.2 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; subapical to radicle tip; flush, or recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible, or discernible; 2.5 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 1.7 mm from hilum; recessed; similar color as testa; darker than testa; reddish black, or brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness, or one thicker than the other; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle, or not entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; notched and wavy; similar at apex; partially concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan; inner face wavy; 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; triangular; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Guinea-Congo (1 sp.) and Borneo (1 sp.).

Old World; Africa and Pacific (Borneo).

Generic Notes

Brummitt (1968) described and discussed Airyantha.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Sophoreae

Polhill (1981b) stated that the Sophoreae s.l. is a tribe of convenience between the Caesalpinioideae and the bulk of the Papilionoideae, sharply defined from neither. He transferred four genera from Sophoreae into the Swartzieae (1), Amburana (3.1.15), Ateleia (3.1.13), Cyathostegia (3.1.14), and Holocalyx (3.1.12), following Herendeen's (1995) cladistic analyses. Herendeen performed cladistic analyses for all Swartzieae genera, sensu Cowan (1981), 19 Sophoreae genera, and three Caesalpinioideae genera. He concluded that Swartzieae is polyphyletic and that it should be disbanded and its genera transferred to Sophoreae. Preliminary rbcL data (Doyle et al. 1997) supported his conclusions.