Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.4.12.
Tribe: Dalbergieae.
Group: Dalbergia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 5 studied; 6 in genus, or 7 in genus.
Fruit: A legume (breaking between seed chambers into "articles"), or a nutlet; unilocular; 10–26 cm long; 6–10 cm wide; 2–4.5 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, or curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; samaroid; with both sutures unequally curved; not inflated; terete; without beak, or with beak; straight, or declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex; right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base, or rounded 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 not torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with spines, or wing(s); wing(s) present (usually coriaceous to nearly chartaceous); wing(s) 1; wing(s) 100 mm wide (widest part of fruit); wing(s) samaroid; wing(s) apical; stipitate, or substipitate, or nonstipitate (nearly); with the stipe 0.2–20 mm long; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown (dark to light); with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect, or appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; tomentose; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular, or glandular; with glandular dots (bright reddish); with spines (2–5 cm long); with spines persistent, or broken off and their bases evident; with spines same color as the rest of the fruit; not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; tuberculate (if spines broken), or not tuberculate; with solid tubercles on each valve; warty, or tuberculate (when spines broken), or glandular dotted; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; surface not veined; 2-layered; without balsamic vesicles; with fibers; without reniform canals; with fibers below solid or compacted fibrous layer; ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp (usually coriaceous to nearly chartaceous); entire. Seed(s) 1(–5); length oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only. Aril absent.
Seed: 12–13 mm long; 3.7–4.3 mm wide; 0.9–1.1 mm thick; not overgrown; angular; asymmetrical; D-shaped; compressed; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; 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; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown (dark reddish); 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; 1 mm long; with curved outline; circular (almost); between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; within rim; rim color of testa. Lens discernible; 1 mm long; with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 1 mm from hilum; mounded; same color as testa; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering 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; notched at radicle; without lobes, or with lobes; with lobes touching (auriculate); with basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed; glabrous.
Rudd (1954) monographed the genus, and Lima (1988) studied the three species in Brazil which occur outside the Amazon region. The fruits of Centrolobium are unique in their size and morphology in the Fabaceae. The seed is located in a fibrous chamber within the solid or tightly packed fibrous mesocarp at the base of a wing (figure A). The wings are effective in distribution of the genus, and apparently the spines are a defensive mechanism against herbivores.
Tribe Dalbergieae
Lima (1989) analyzed the morphological characters of fruits, seeds and seedlings of the tribe and his characters and illustrations were used as a much appreciated source of accurate data. He also discussed the phylogeny of the tribe. Sousa and Sousa (1981) provided data to support their conclusion that the New World Lonchocarpinae be considered for tribal status: A segregate of the Dalbergieae. Hauman (1954) provided data on the Dalbergieae of Central Africa, and Lock (1989) listed the Dalbergieae for all of Africa. Thothathri (1986) reviewed the taxonomic status and systematic position of Asiatic Dalbergieae, and monographed tribe Dalbergieae for the Indian subcontinent (Thothathri, 1987). Morphological (Lima 1989) and molecular (Doyle et al. 1997) evidence has indicated that tribe Dalbergieae is polyphyletic.
Authors: J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, A.L. Weitzman, M.J. Dallwitz, K.R. Thiele
Content last updated April 2003
Released April 2024 on idtools.org
