Bolusanthus

Taxonomy

Bolusanthus H.A.T. Harms Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 2: 14. 15 Jan 1906.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.37.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Sophora.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 4.6–7.3 cm long; 0.8–1.3 cm wide; 0.2–0.4 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical to nearly symmetrical; linear to fusiform, or moniliform (slightly); not inflated; flattened; without beak; tapered at apex, or rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base, or rounded at base; aligned 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, or not constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; with the stipe 2–4 mm long; with all layers dehiscing (tardily, from literature, not seen). Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; brown, or tan; with brown overlay, or gray overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; sericeous; with pubescence golden to white; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; sometimes papillose; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; trace; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; mottled; tan; with mottling more or less uniform (dark); with brown overlay; smooth and floury-filamentous; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 2–5; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.3–0.5 mm long; of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; tan, or yellow.

Seed: 5–9 mm long; 4–6.8 mm wide; 2.5–3.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical (slightly); 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; glossy to dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome to mottled; yellowish green to brown (greenish); with brown overlay; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible, or not visible; from hilum through lens to base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; darker than testa; flush. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril, or wing; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 0.3–0.7 mm long; with curved outline; circular; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; within halo, or not within corona, halo, or rim; halo lighter than testa. Lens discernible; 0.6–0.9 mm long; with margins straight; diamond-shaped; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; ca. 0.4 mm from hilum; mounded; similar color as testa; darker than testa; brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick to thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to embryo. Cotyledons not smooth; sulcate; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin not 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; creamy white to white, or pink; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique; perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; slightly bulbose; lobe tip curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Malawi to Natal.

Old World; Africa.

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.