Balizia

Taxonomy

Balizia R.C. Barneby & J.W. Grimes Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74(1): 34. 25 Mar 1996.

Subfamily: Mimosoideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 2.5.01B.
Tribe: Ingeae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 3 studied; 3 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; (6.5–)7–12.5(–14) cm long; 1.7–3.2 cm wide; 0.2–0.6 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; slightly curved, or straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; weakly falcate; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; compressed; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base, or long tapered at base, or tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; ligneous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas; wing(s) absent; substipitate, or stipitate; with the stipe 3–10 mm long; with all layers dehiscing, or indehiscent; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along 1 suture; passive. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; smooth; not veined; not tuberculate; exfoliating in part, or not exfoliating; with cracks, or without cracks; cracking longitudinal to fruit length and transverse to fruit length, or transverse to fruit length; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; with fibers; without reniform canals; fibrous throughout; ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate, or nonseptate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; ligneous; exfoliating in part, or not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp, or separating from mesocarp, or separating with mesocarp from epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 10–14; length parallel with fruit length; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; S-curved. Aril absent.

Seed: (6–)7–16 mm long (Barneby and Grimes, 1996); 3–5 mm wide (Barneby and Grimes, 1996Barneby and Grimes, 1996:
Albizia, and allies. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74(1): 1&-292. ); not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; narrowly elliptic, or oblong; compressed; 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 present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown, or green, or pink; glabrous; smooth (assumed); coriaceous. Pleurogram present; 75–95 %. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Hilum present. Cotyledons completely concealing radicle; split over radicle; without lobes; orange, or pink.

Distribution

Belize and adjoining countries of Central America, Orinoco and Amazon basins, the Guianas, and Atlantic coastal forests of Brasil as far south as the state of Paraná.

New World; Mexico, Central America, and South America (Belize and adjoining countries of Central America, Orinoco and Amazon basins, the Guianas, and Atlantic coastal forests of Brasil as far south as the state of Paraná.); Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas.
 

Generic Notes

Barneby and Grimes (1996) recognized the closely related Hydrochorea (2.5.01A) and Balizia as genera because of their fruits and seeds. "The ligneous fruits of genus Balizia are indehiscent or tardily dehiscent, their seeds being released sometimes only after decay of the valves, on the floor of terra firme forest, whereas the lomentiform fruits of riparian Hydrochorea are adapted to dispersal by water." Fruits are "of two types... : (a) woody, plano-compressed, transversely fibrous, tardily follicular, and (b) ligneous, plumply compressed, indehiscent; ..." (Barneby and Grimes, 1996). All seed data wqas extracted from Barneby and Grimes (1996).