Brya

Taxonomy

Brya P. Browne Civ. Nat. Hist. Jamaica 299. 10 Mar 1756.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.01.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Bryinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 4 studied; 4 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume, or a loment (or a loment segment); unilocular; 0.8–2.5 cm long (upper length is estimated); 0.6–0.9 cm wide; 0.07–0.08 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight, or curved (or slightly curved); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; moniliform (with more or less elongated isthmuses); with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; substipitate, or nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Loment indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 8–15 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) D-shaped, or curved. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown (dark reddish to greenish); with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 2 types of pubescence, or 3 types of pubescence; puberulent; with pubescence gray (short and plain tipped), or golden (long and gland tipped); with golden hooked hairs and gray plain hairs; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs and glandular hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; glandular; with glandular hairs; 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 absent. Endocarp present; visible; glossy (more or less); opaque; monochrome; tan; fibrous (to somewhat smooth in seed chamber); without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1, or 2; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.5–1 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; curved. Aril absent.

Seed: 3.5–5 mm long; 2–3.5 mm wide; 0.5–0.6 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; flattened; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; with 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; reddish brown; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from lens to base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; darker than testa; dark reddish brown; raised. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; without faboid split; punctiform, or larger than punctiform; 0.2–0.5 mm long; with straight outline; oblong; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; within halo; halo darker than testa. 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; partially concealing radicle; notched at radicle; with lobes; with lobes not touching; without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; reddish tan; 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 length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Cuba (1 sp.) extending to Jamaica and another species to Hispaniola.

New World; West Indies (Cuba, Jamaica, to Hispaniola).

Generic Notes

Lewis (1988) provided a plate showing the fruit and seed of B. ebenus.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Desmodieae

Ohashi et al. (1981) started their treatment of the Desmodieae with these thoughts: "A sensible classification of Desmodieae is prejudiced by the traditional over-weighting of fruit characters." (sic) "The fruit normally consists of indehiscent jointed articles, but fruits that open have arisen at least seven times..." They supplemented their text with a fruit-seed plate. They placed Brya and Cranocarpus (11.02), the only two New World endemic genera, in the new subtribe Bryinae, "characterized most notably by glochidiate hairs." Bailey et al. (1997), using the chloroplast rpl2 intron and ORF184, suggested that Brya, Cranocarpus, Phylacium (11.22), and Neocollettia (11.26) are not members of Desmodieae and that they probably belong in Aeschynomeneae (14).