Aldina

Taxonomy

Aldina S.F.L. Endlicher Nom. cons. Gen. 1322. Oct 1840.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.1.04.
Tribe: Swartzieae.
Group: Aldina.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 6 studied; ca. 15 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 2.5–12 cm long; 1.8–6 cm wide; 2–6.8 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; obovate; not inflated; terete, or compressed; without beak; 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; ligneous, or fleshy; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus, or with sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing (tardily); splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; passive, or active; with valves revolute. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; wrinkled, or lenticular (tan); not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid, or spongy; ligneous (to subligneous), or coriaceous. Endocarp present; concealed; concealed by adnate testa; opaque; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate, or subseptate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–4; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; assumed thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 35–60 mm long; 30–50 mm wide; 22–40 mm thick; overgrown, 1 seed filling entire fruit cavity (including more than 1 seed per fruit); not angular, or angular; symmetrical; (sub-) circular, or elliptic, or triangular; terete, or compressed; with surface ridged, or grooved; oblique; 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 absent; partially adhering to endocarp. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons not smooth; 5–7-branched grooves (from veins of testa) on each face; 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; not concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; brown; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; triangular; lobe tip curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Venezuela, Guyana, and upper Amazon basin.

New World; South America (Venezuela, Guyana, Amazon basin); Brazil and Ecuador.

Generic Notes

Cowan (1953) monographed Aldina and noted that fruit were known for very few taxa.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Swartzieae

Swartzieae has been assigned to Caesalpinioideae (Cowan, 1968), Swartzioideae (de Candolle, 1825a, 1825b; Corner, 1976), and Faboideae (Bentham, 1865, Hutchinson, 1964, Cowan, 1981). In 1968, Cowan (1968) was unable "finally to resolve the sub-familial relationship of Swartzia," but in 1981, he (Cowan 1981) placed it in the Faboideae and stated, "... features appear to support the arrangement adopted here (Cowan 1981) with the Swartzieae representing a relatively less-advanced position in the Papilionoideae (Faboideae). This conclusion is now supported by wood anatomy ..., by nodulation proclivity ..., and by chemistry ...; chromosome numbers of n=8, 10 or 14 ..., as well as pollen morphology ..., do not negate this conclusion." In the most recent assessment of the Fabaceae, Polhill (1994a, 1994b) maintained Swartzieae as a basal tribe of Faboideae, "transitional to the Caesalpinioideae." He transferred four genera from Sophoreae (2) into the Swartzieae, Amburana (3.1.15), Ateleia (3.1.13), Cyathostegia (3.1.14), and Holocalyx (3.1.12), and arranged the genera in four groups corresponding to clades in Herendeen's (1994) cladistic analysis. Herendeen carried out cladistic analyses using morphological characters of all Swartzieae genera, 19 genera of Sophoreae, 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. Ireland et al. (2000) also carried out molecular phylogenetic studies. They also concluded that Swartizeae is polyphyletic, and suggested that possibly tribe Swartzieae could be maintained with Swartzia (3.1.01), Bobgunnia (3.1.01A), Bocoa (3.1.02), Ateleia (3.1.13), Cyathostegia (3.1.14) and the current remaining Swartzieae genera transferred to other tribes. Our seed data neither support nor refute the overall outlines of Herendeen's cladograms; they are discussed below for a few genera. Ferguson and Skvarla (1991) reported on the pollen morphology of Aldina and Swartzia (1.01), and the nine other genera of Swartzieae are covered in Ferguson and Skvarla (1988). Their data are summarized in a computer-generated key in Vezey et al. (1991). The pollen data for the tribe should be compared with our seed-fruit morphological data.