Andira

Taxonomy

Andira A.L. de Jussieu Nom. cons. Gen. 363. 4 Aug 1789.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.4.04.
Tribe: Dalbergieae.
Group: Andira.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 14 studied; 29 in genus (Pennington and Gemeinholzer, 2000Pennington and Gemeinholzer, 2000:
Pennington RT and Gemeinholzer B. 2000. Cryptic clades, fruit wall morphology and biology of Andira (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 134:267&-286.).

Description

Fruit: A legume (described by T.R. Pennington, pers. comm., as a drupe); unilocular; 2–13 cm long; 1.5–10 cm wide; 1.5–10 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, or asymmetrical; oblong, or obovate, or ovate, or circular; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; terete; without beak; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; drupaceous (fresh), or ligneous (dry); seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin with sulcus (slight); margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate, or substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown (dark reddish); with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or glabrate; with hairs erect; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features, or recessed features; not veined; not tuberculate; rugose, or verrucose-rugose, or wrinkled; pitted (broadly); not exfoliating, or checking, or exfoliating in part, or exfoliating; with cracks; cracking irregular; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; surface uniformly veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without reniform canals; fibrous throughout to fleshy (some when fresh); ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown; scurfy; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate, or subseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1(–3); length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only. Aril absent.

Seed: 20–80 mm long; 15–60 mm wide; 15–60 mm thick; overgrown, 1 seed filling entire fruit cavity; not angular; symmetrical; oblong, or circular; terete; 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 absent, or present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp, or partially adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown; glabrous; not smooth; with elevated features; wrinkled; chartaceous (to membransceous). Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons not smooth, or smooth (wrinkled); 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; completely concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; brown, or tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight, or deflexed; parallel to length of seed, or oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; straight with embryonic axis, or deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Neotropics, With 2 subspecies in Africa.

New World, or Old World; United States to West Indies to Mexico to Central America to South America (United States (Florida)); Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas; Africa (2 subspp. of A. inermis).

Generic Notes

According to Lock (1989), the species of Andira in Africa is now treated as Andira inermis (O.P. Swartz) K.S. Kunth ex A.P. de Candolle subsp. inermis, subsp. grandiflora (J.B.A. Guillemin & G.S. Perrottet) R.M. Polhill, and subsp. rooseveltii (E.A.J. Wildeman) R.M. Polhill. Mattos (1979a) monographed the genus in Brazil and recognized 27 species and seven varieties. Pennington and Gemeinholzer (2000) studied the fruit-wall anatomy of Andira to find new non-molecular characters corresponding to the clades in the molecular phylogeny of Andira. They did not find any useful characters in either the epicarp or mesocarp, but in the endocarp, there are three basic types dominated by: 1) parenchyma, 2) fibers, or 3) stone cells. Endocarps with either fibers or stone cells were apomorphic for two of the well-supported molecular clades. They concluded that endocarp dominated by parenchyma was the plesiomarophic condition in Andira.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Dalbergieae

Lima (1989) analyzed the morphological characters of fruits, seeds and seedlings of the tribe and his characters and illustrations were used as a much appreciated source of accurate data. He also discussed the phylogeny of the tribe. Sousa and Sousa (1981) provided data to support their conclusion that the New World Lonchocarpinae be considered for tribal status: A segregate of the Dalbergieae. Hauman (1954) provided data on the Dalbergieae of Central Africa, and Lock (1989) listed the Dalbergieae for all of Africa. Thothathri (1986) reviewed the taxonomic status and systematic position of Asiatic Dalbergieae, and monographed tribe Dalbergieae for the Indian subcontinent (Thothathri, 1987). Morphological (Lima 1989) and molecular (Doyle et al. 1997) evidence has indicated that tribe Dalbergieae is polyphyletic.