Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.22.01.
Tribe: Brongniartieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 15 studied; 56 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.3–6 cm long; 0.8–2.5 cm wide; 0.4–0.5 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width, or 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; elliptic, or oblong; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved, or both sutures unequally curved; not inflated; compressed; without beak; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down (assumed); active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown, or tan; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; with pubescence gray; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; veined; obliquely veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan, or yellow; fibrous, or smooth (but fibrous around margins of seeds or not); without adhering pieces of testa; subseptate, or nonseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; coriaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings. Seed(s) 1–8; length transverse to fruit length (to slightly oblique), or oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1–4 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight. Aril present; fleshy; when fleshy hooked; entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; brown to tan.
Seed: 6–20 mm long; 3.5–6.5 mm wide; 2.5–4 mm thick; not overgrown; angular, or not angular; asymmetrical; irregular (because of pressure of adjacent seeds), or oblong 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; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with frequent mottles; brown, or tan; with brown overlay (dark); glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Raphe visible, or not visible; from lens to base of seed and terminating; color of testa to lighter than testa; tan; flush. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funiculus, or funicular remnant; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 0.8–1 mm long; with curved outline; circular; subapical to radicle tip; recessed; within rim, or not within corona, halo, or rim; rim color of testa (but not mottled if testa mottled), or darker than testa (but not mottled if testa mottled). Lens discernible; 1–1.2 mm long; with margins straight, or curved; linear; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.5 mm from hilum; mounded; same color as testa; brown, or tan; not within corona, halo, or rim. 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 overlapping; with basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan; inner face flat; 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; linear; straight with embryonic axis; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed; glabrous.
Tribe Brongniartieae
Arroyo (1981) noted that the "legumes and seeds in Harpalyce and Brongniartia are quite similar, and on this basis the genera are closely related." She regarded this tribe as "a probably retictual American group, with ancient austral roots." Crisp and Weston (1987, pages 105–107) provided compelling evidence that the Templetonia group of the Bossiaeeae (23) should be transferred to the Brongniartieae, but they did not resolve all aspects of the transfer. See the Notes for Lamprolobium (23.02). Chappill's (1995) cladistic analysis of the entire family indicated that the transfer should not be made and that the two tribes should be circumscribed in the traditional manner (Crisp and Weston, 1995).
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
