Apoplanesia

Taxonomy

Apoplanesia C.B. Presl Symb. Bot. 1: 63. t. 41. 1832 (?).

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.6.01.
Tribe: Amorpheae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.3–0.35 cm long; 0.2–0.3 cm wide; 0.2–0.23 cm thick (all excluding calyx); length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx longer than fruit (lobes wing-like and up to 8 mm long); without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; compressed; without beak (but with indurate style), or with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit (nearly), or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome (but gland dots reddish-brown against silvery (hair) background); brown, or gray (because of hairs); with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; tomentose; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases plain; glandular; with glandular dots; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; rugose; 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; glassy beads; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome; dark brown, or tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 2.2–2.4 mm long; 1.8–2 mm wide; 1.3–1.4 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; D-shaped; 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; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; tan; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim 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; larger than punctiform; 0.5 mm long; with curved outline; circular; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; within rim; rim color darker than testa. Lens discernible (nearly as large as hilum see figure F); with margins curved; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum (separated by hilum rim); mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick; 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; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Southern Mexico to Venezuela.

New World; southern Mexico to Central America to South America (Venezuela).

Generic Notes

Barneby (1981) noted that this is seemingly the most archaic genus in the Amorpheae. The fruit in combination with the enlarged calytx form a unique unit in the Fabaceae. The D-shaped compressed fruit is half enclosed by enlarged calyx lobes, and this unit resembles a small fruit of Dipterocarpus C. Gaertner (Dipterocarpaceae).

Tribal Notes

Tribe Amorpheae

Traditionally this tribe has been called Amorpheae. Reveal (1997) reported that the name Daleeae was published before the name Amorpheae. Following the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Greuter et al., 1994), the oldest name for a taxon must be used, so Reveal suggested that this tribe should called Daleeae. In 1999 Reveal (1999) reversed himself, so that the tribe remains the Amorpheae.