Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.28.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Dussia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 4 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 3.8–6 cm long; 1–1.5 cm wide; 0.2–0.3 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight, or curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical to nearly symmetrical; elliptic to oblong; not inflated; flattened; with beak; coiled, or hooked; with papery fragile beak up to 1 cm long; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; 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 embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 1–2 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture; stipitate; with the stipe 5–7 mm long; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; brown, or tan; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; 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; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; mottled; tan; with mottling dark more or less uniform; with brown overlay; smooth and floury-filamentous; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 2–5; length transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1–1.5 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; ivory.
Seed: 4.5–8 mm long; 3–5 mm wide; 1.6–3.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; elliptic to ovate; 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; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; red to brown; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through lens and terminating before base of seed; not bifurcating; darker than testa; black; flush. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 0.5–0.8 mm long; with curved outline; circular; apical at apex of radicle tip to subapical to radicle tip; recessed; within rim; rim color of testa. Lens discernible; ca. 1 mm long; with margins straight; linear; in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; ca. 1 mm from hilum; flush; similar color as testa; darker than testa; red (dark); not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick, or thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex, or outer face of one cotyledon concave and other cotyledon convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle, or not entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; notched; similar at apex; not concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; yellow; inner face with central ridge on 1 and central groove on other; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; parallel to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; lobe tip straight; straight with embryonic axis; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
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.
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
