Brownea

Taxonomy

Brownea N.J. von Jacquin Nom. cons. Enum. Pl. Carib. 6, 26 ('Brownaea'). Jun-Dec 1760.

Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 1.4.55.
Tribe: Detarieae.
Group: Brownea.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 10 studied; 12 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 7–40 cm long (Klitgaard, 1991); 1.5–8 cm wide; 0.4–1 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 to curved; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; oblong, or falcate, or C-shaped, or irregular; with both sutures unequally curved, or both sutures parallelly curved, or 1 straight and 1 curved suture; widest near apex; not inflated; compressed to flattened; without beak; long tapered at apex (or straight along one margin); aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit to oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit (with straight or hooked style); tapered at base, or rounded at base (along dorsal suture); oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous to ligneous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas (along ventral margin); wing(s) absent; stipitate; with the stipe 6–45 mm long; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures (initally along dorsal margin); active; with valves separately enrolling, or twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp nearly glossy to dull; monochrome; reddish to grayish or dark brown; with surface texture uniform; densely brown pubescent and indurate (velvety); with hairs erect; velutinous; with pubescence brown, or golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; weakly to heavily veined; transversely veined relative to fruit length to 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; surface not veined; 2-layered; without balsamic vesicles; with fibers; without reniform canals; with fibers transverse to oblique embedded in mealy tissue over solid layer; ligneous to coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown; without adhering pieces of testa; subseptate to nonseptate; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 2–9; length parallel with fruit length to transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–1 mm long; of 1 length only; thick; straight, or triangular (at apex). Aril absent.

Seed: 20–50 mm long; 10–40 mm wide; 3–20 mm thick; not overgrown; angular, or not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; ovate, or quadrangular, or irregular, or circular; nearly terete to compressed to flattened; 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; brown; glabrous; not smooth; with elevated features and recessed features; rugose and reticulate; coriaceous (with reticulate fibers). Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible (fibrous, encircling seed). Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; 0.1–3 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic to circular; apical at apex of radicle tip; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. Endosperm absent. 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; completely concealing radicle to partially concealing radicle (only tip exposed); split over radicle to entire over radicle; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; parallel to length of seed to perpendicular to length of seed (occasionally); without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; centered between cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

West Indies, Southern Central America (Costa Rica and Panama), and northern and northwestern South America.

New World; West Indies, Central America, and South America (West Indies (St. Vincent, Trinidad, Tobago, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico), Central America (Costa Rica and Panama) and northern and northwestern South America (Grench Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru)); Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas.

Generic Notes

Pittier (1916) monographed the Central American species of this genus and illustrated some of the seed shape variation in B. ariza G. Bentham (now B. rosa-de-monte). Velasquez and Agostini (1981) provided a key to the Venezuelian species. Klitgaard (1991) treated the Ecuadorian species of Brownea and Browneopsis (1.4.56), and her species counts and distributions are used.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Detarieae

Bruneau et al. (2000) carried out extensive phylogenetic analyses of tribes Amherstieae and Detarieae. They concluded that they form a single monophyletic group. Therefore, they supported Polhill's (1995a, 1995b) decision to unite the two tribes.