Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.26.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Dussia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 3 studied; 6 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 3.8–20 cm long; 2–7 cm wide; 0.5–3 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, or asymmetrical; fusiform, or obliquely obovate; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures unequally curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; compressed, or flattened; without beak, or with beak (short); straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base, or tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous, or leathery; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with ridge(s); wing(s) absent; nonstipitate, or substipitate, or stipitate; with the stipe 0.1–10 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 glaucous; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; velutinous; with pubescence brown; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features, or recessed features; veined; obliquely veined relative to fruit length, or reticulately veined; not tuberculate; pitted; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown; smooth and spongy; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–2; length parallel with fruit length to oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus ca. 2 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight to triangular. Aril present, or absent; fleshy; when fleshy 2-lipped rim-aril; entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; with tongues (or flap) on lips of 2-lipped rim-aril; with 1 tongue or flap on 1 lip of 2-lipped rim-aril; brown.
Seed: 17–70 mm long; 17–38 mm wide; 1.5–16 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular, or angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; D-shaped, or elliptic, or irregular; compressed to flattened; with surface smooth, or wrinkled; 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; dull to glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown; glabrous; not smooth; with elevated features; wrinkled; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible, or not visible; from hilum through lens to base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; color of testa; raised. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril, or funicular remnant; larger than punctiform; 2–5 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons not smooth; ruminate to wrinkled; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin not entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; notched; similar at apex; completely concealing radicle, or partially concealing radicle; notched at radicle, or split over radicle; with lobes; with lobes touching (auriculate), or not touching; without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; brown; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique; 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 to moderately developed; glabrous.
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.
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
