Cleobulia

Taxonomy

Cleobulia C.F.P. von Martius ex G. Bentham Commentat. Legum. Gener. 67. Jun 1837.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.20.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Diocleinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 3 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 6–10 cm long; 1.5–2.3 cm wide; 0.2–0.5 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; oblong, or harp-shaped, or irregular; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures unequally curved, or both sutures nearly straight; widest near apex; not inflated; compressed; without beak; truncate at apex, or blunt at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; 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; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent to tomentose; with pubescence golden, or brown; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; not veined; not tuberculate; with cracks, or without cracks; cracking 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; (sub-) ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; yellow; smooth and floury-filamentous; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; exfoliating in part; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings. Seed(s) 6–7; length transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.5–10.5 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; curved. Aril present; dry; when dry partial rim-aril; fimbriate; cream, or brown (dark).

Seed: 8.4 mm long; 6 mm wide; 2.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; ovate, or reniform (Maxwell, 1977Maxwell, 1977:
Maxwell RH. 1977. A resume of the genus Cleobulia (Leguminosae) and its relation to the genus Dioclea. Phytologia 38(1):51&-65.)); compressed; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes, or with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes (rarely); 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; 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 lighter colored than the rest of the hilum and therefore conspicuous; larger than punctiform; 6–8.5 mm long; with straight outline; linear; marginal according to radicle tip; slightly raised; within rim; rim color darker than testa. Lens discernible; 0.6 mm long; with margins straight; wedge-shaped; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons not smooth; convoluted; 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; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan to brown; inner face flat and wavy (in different areas); glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; almost perpendicular to length of seed; with a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Brazil.

New World; South America; Brazil.

Generic Notes

Maxwell (1977) prepared a resumé of the genus. The two studied seeds were immature.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Phaseoleae

Bruneau et al. (1995) carried out cladistic analyses of tribe Phaseoleae using chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Their results indicated that the tribe is not monophyletic and that the tribal delimitations between Phaseoleae and Desmodieae (11) and between Phaseoleae and Millettieae (7) are problematic.