Bryapsis

Taxonomy

Bryaspis P.A. Duvigneaud Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 86: 151. Jun 1954.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.14.14.
Tribe: Aeschynomeneae.
Subtribe: Aeschynomeninae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 2 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment), or a legume; unilocular; 0.8–1.3 cm long; 0.2 cm wide; 0.14–0.15 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx (within large bract); without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture; narrowing in several places, resembling Desmodium (3.11.09) fruit; not inflated; compressed; without beak; rounded at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned 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; margin constricted only on 1 margin; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Loment an intact article; indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 2–3 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) D-shaped. Epicarp dull; monochrome; reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; irregularly veined; not tuberculate; subvesicular; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; reddish brown; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1, or 2; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 2–2.5 mm long; 1.6–2 mm wide; 1.2–1.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; D-shaped (with radicle lobe); terete; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between 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; tan; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform, or punctiform; 0.3 mm long; with curved outline; circular; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; 0.5 mm long; with margins straight; linear (centered within a discolored area); not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; recessed; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. 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; 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; bulbose; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

West tropical Africa.

Old World; west tropical Africa and Macaronesia.

Generic Notes

Duvigneaud (1954b) separated Geissaspis (14.13) from Bryaspis by stipule, bract, standard, keel, and fruit characters. His fruit key-characters were: Fruit membranceous and article densely reticulate for Geissaspis and fruit firmer and article faintly reticulate for Bryaspis.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Aeschynomeneae

Rudd (1981a) recognized four subtribes of Aeschynomeneae: Ormocarpinae V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.01–3.14.08), Aeschynomeninae (genera 3.14.09–3.14.16), Discolobinae (A.E. Burkart) V.E. Rudd (genus 3.14.17: Discolobium), Poiretiinae (A.E. Burkart) V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.18–3.14.21), and Stylosanthinae (G. Bentham) V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.22–13.4.26). Tribal and subtribal placement of Diphysa is based on Lavin (1987; Polhill, 1994a, 1994b), and not on Polhill and Sousa (1981), who placed Diphysa in Robinieae. Bailey et al. (1997), using the chloroplast rpl2 intron and ORF184, suggested that Brya (11.01), Cranocarpus (11.02), Phylacium (11.22), and Neocollettia (11.26) are not members of Desmodieae (11) and that they probably belong in Aeschynomeneae.