Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.23.06.
Tribe: Bossiaeeae.
Group: Bossiaea.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 15 studied; ca. 40 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.2–1.7 cm long; 0.7–1 cm wide; 0.15–0.25 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; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; oblong, or circular, or linear; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; flattened; without beak, or with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex to rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous to chartaceous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas (thick or keeled especially upper suture); wing(s) absent; stipitate, or substipitate, or nonstipitate; with the stipe to 5 mm long; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down (assumed); active, or passive; with valves revolute. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; black, or brown, or gray; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; villous; with pubescence golden, or gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not veined; not tuberculate; striate (at right angles to fruit length); 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; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown; spongy (corklike); without adhering pieces of testa; septate, or nonseptate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–2(–3); length transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; straight. Aril present; fleshy; when fleshy flat from apex to near base; entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; tan.
Seed: 3–3.5 mm long; 2.3–2.5 mm wide; 1.8–2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; elliptic to ovate; compressed; 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; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with frequent mottles; dark brown to brown; with black overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by aril; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; with curved outline; elliptic; marginal according to radicle tip; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible (may be concealed by aril). Endosperm present; thin; 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; linear; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
Tribe Bossiaeeae
The Bossiaeeae with ten genera traditionally has been divided into two groups in part on fruit and seed characters. The Templetonia group with the first four genera (including at the time Lamprolobium, 23.02) has non-winged, coriaceous legumes and compressed seeds bearing a collarlike often-lipped aril (except Templetonia biloba (G. Bentham) R.M. Polhill), and a short, straight radicle. The Bossiaea group with the remaining genera has the legumes keeled to winged or not so, plump seeds often covered by a hooded caplike aril (lacking in Muelleranthus (23.08) and Ptychosema (23.09)), and a slender deflexed radicle exserted from the cotyledons. Crisp and Weston (1987, pages 105–107) in their cladistic analysis of the Bossiaeeae, Brongniartieae (22), and Mirbelieae (24), provided compelling evidence that the Bossiaeeae should be redefined to include only the Bossiaea group (genera 23.05–23.10). The Templetonia group would be moved to the Brongniartieae becoming genera three through eight, after Brongniarta (22.01) and Harpalyce (22.02). The proposed generic sequence would be: 3, Templetonia (23.01); 4, Lamprolobium; 5, Plagiocarpus (23.03); 6, ?Genus A (Templetonia incana J.H. Ross); 7, ?Genus B (Templetonia biloba (G. Bentham) R.M. Polhill); and 8, Hovea (23.04). They (Crisp and Weston, 1995) retracted their proposal to transfer the Templetonia group because of Chappill's (1995) cladistic analysis of the entire family, and we have used the traditional circumscriptions of the two tribes (Pohill, 1994a, 1994b).
Authors: J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, A.L. Weitzman, M.J. Dallwitz, K.R. Thiele
Content last updated April 2003
Released April 2024 on idtools.org
