Calia

Taxonomy

Calia J.L. Berlandier In Mier-Terán, Mem. Com. Lim. 13. 1832.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.43.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Sophora.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 4 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 3–13 cm long; 0.8–2 cm wide; 0.8–1.6 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; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; moniliform to sub moniliform to oblong; not inflated; compressed to terete; without beak, or with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; 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; ligneous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers torulose; margin constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; sericeous; with pubescence golden to tan; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth; not veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; surface not veined; 2-layered and 3-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; with solid layer over solid layer; with solid layer over 2 distinct solid layers; ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; ligneous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–6; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 10–17 mm long; 8–15 mm wide; 9–12 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; circular to elliptic; terete; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; with shallow 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; red, or yellow; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through base of seed and up the other side (reaching the hilum on the other side); not bifurcating; color of testa to lighter than testa; raised and recessed (some parts raised and others recessed). 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; 2–4 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; within rim; rim color of testa, or lighter than testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; 1–3 mm long; with margins curved; circular to elliptic; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum, or adjacent to hilum; 2–5 mm from hilum; slightly mounded; same color as testa, or similar color as testa; lighter than testa; red, or yellow; 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; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Mexico, As far south as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States.

New World; as far south as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico and United States (in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas).
 

Generic Notes

Polhill (1994b) and Sousa and Rudd (1993) maintained Calia as a genus, but Tsoong Pu-chiu and Ma Chi-yon (1981) kept it as a synonym of Sophora (3.2.45). We have chosen to follow Sousa and Rudd, and maintain Calia as a good genus.

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.