Cadia

Taxonomy

Cadia P. Forsskål Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. 90. 1775.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.36.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Sophora.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 6 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 7–15 cm long; 1–1.5 cm wide; 2–9 times longer than wide, or more than 9 times longer than wide; with persistent androecial sheath, or deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; slightly curved to curved; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; linear, or oblong (elliptic), or falcate; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; compressed; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; tapered at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; long tapered at base, or tapered at base; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; (sub-) coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible (slightly); margin not constricted, or constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas; wing(s) absent; stipitate; with the stipe 5–16 mm long; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull, or glossy; monochrome, or multicolored; mottled; brown to 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; sometimes papillose; not exfoliating; with cracks, or without cracks; cracking fine oblique to fruit length; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 2–14; length oblique to fruit length, or transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1–2.5 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight to triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril and tongue-aril; entire; cream, or tan.

Seed: 5–9.5 mm long; 3–7 mm wide; 2–4 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; elliptic to ovate to circular (sub), or D-shaped; 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; glossy to dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; red to brown (also to reddish brown); glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. 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; 0.6–1.5 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; subapical to radicle tip; recessed; within rim; rim color darker than testa. Lens discernible; 1.2–1.5 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.5 mm from hilum; flush; similar color as testa; darker than testa; brown, or red (dark); not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering at least 1/2 of embryo, but not 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 touching (auriculate); without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; pale tan; inner face flat, or with central ridge on 1 and central groove on other; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique; perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Arabia to Kenya (1 sp.) and Madagascar (5 spp.).

Old World; Africa, Madagascar, and Southwest Asia.
 

Generic Notes

van der Maesen (1970) revised Cadia, and considered it to belong in an unnamed tribe of subfamily Caesalpinioideae.

Tribal Notes

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.