Codariocalyx

Taxonomy

Codariocalyx J.C. Hasskarl Linnaea 15(Litt.): 80. Apr 1841.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.10.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Desmodiinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 2 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume (resembling a loment); unilocular; 0.7–5 cm long; 0.3–0.7 cm wide; 0.18–0.2 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath, or persistent androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; curved (or slightly curved); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; linear (with toothed lower suture); with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures nearly straight; narrowing in several places, resembling Desmodium (3.11.09) fruit (false loment); not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base, or rounded at base; oblique 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 torulose; margin constricted; margin constricted only on 1 margin; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s) (lower). Dehiscence of valves along 1 suture (lower margin); passive. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; dark reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect, or appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; pilose, or tomentose; with pubescence hook tipped golden and gray (plain tipped); with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs (shorter gray plain tipped, longer yellow hooked tipped); 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; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull, or glossy; opaque; monochrome; reddish tan, or brown (reddish); smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–13; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; flattened, or triangular; straight. Aril present; fleshy; when fleshy cupshaped (with undulate margin); entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; tan.

Seed: 2.5–4.5 mm long; 2.5–4 mm wide; 1.5–1.7 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; elliptic, or reniform; compressed; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; with 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, or dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled and streaked; with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; reddish brown; with black overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible, or partially concealed; concealed by aril; 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 straight outline; oblong; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. 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; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; yellow; 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; bulbose; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Southeastern Asia and tropical Australia.

Old World; India to Indochina to China to Indonesia and the Philippines to New Guinea to Australia to Pacific (Fiji, Asia, India (and Nepal and Sri Lanka)).

Generic Notes

Ohashi (1973) monographed the two species and provided fruit and seed illustrations. The multiseeded legumes of Codariocalyx have persistent septa between the seed compartments, so that the fruit appears to be a loment. It dehisces along the lower suture releasing the seeds from the individual seed compartments. The dehisced fruit is a line of open individual seed compartments which continue to be joined by the upper suture.

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).