Christia

Taxonomy

Christia C. Moench Meth. Suppl. 39. 1802 (ante Oct).

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.17.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Desmodiinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; ca. 10 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment); 0.6 cm long; 0.15 cm wide; 0.1 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx longer than fruit, or shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; S-curved; plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; irregular; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures unequally curved; narrowing in several places, resembling Desmodium (3.11.09) fruit (though folded); not inflated; flattened; without beak; truncate at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; truncate at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous (easily eroding); 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; substipitate, or nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Loment indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 2 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) D-shaped. Epicarp dull; monochrome; gray, or brown, or black; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent; with pubescence gray (with hooked tips); with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs (with hooked tips); pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; 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; dull; opaque; monochrome; reddish brown, or white; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–3; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 1.6–2.5 mm long; 1.2–1.8 mm wide; 0.6–0.9 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes, or without 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; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; dark to light reddish brown; 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; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; within rim; rim color darker than testa. Lens discernible; with margins curved; circular, or elliptic; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; slightly mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa. Cotyledons not 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 deflexed; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Tropical and subtropical Asia and Australasia.

Old World; India to China to Indochina to Indonesia and the Philippines to Australia to Pacific (China (south)).

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).