Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.02.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Bryinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 3 in genus.
Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment) (or a 1-seeded loment); 1–2 cm long; 0.5–0.8 cm wide; 0.2–0.3 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide, or length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; irregular, or reniform; with both sutures unequally curved, or 1 straight and 1 curved suture; narrowing in several places, resembling Desmodium (3.11.09) fruit; not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit (or more); short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted (when 2 seeded), or not constricted (when 1 seeded); margin constricted only on 1 margin; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Loment an intact article; indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 8–13 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) D-shaped (to galeiform). Epicarp dull; monochrome; reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 2 types of pubescence; puberulent and villous (glandular hairs puberulent and nonglandular hairs villous); with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs and glandular hairs (the simple hairs long than the glandular ones); stiff and pliable; with hair bases plain; glandular; with glandular hairs; distributed over entire fruit; 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; glossy; opaque; monochrome; tan; rugose; without adhering pieces of testa; septate (when 2 seeded), or nonseptate (when 1 seeded); with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1, or 2; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.
Seed: Ca. 5.5 mm long; ca. 4 mm wide; ca. 1 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; flattened; with surface smooth; 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; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; reddish brown; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by aril remnant; with faboid split (assumed); larger than punctiform; ca. 0.4 mm long; with straight outline; linear; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; ca. 0.3 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; ca. 0.2 mm from hilum; flush; dissimilar color from testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim.
Bailey and Doyle (1997), using the chloroplast rpl2 intron and ORF184, suggested that Cranocarpus is not a member of Desmodieae and that it belongs in Aeschynomeneae. Harley (1978) monographed Cranocarpus (with two species), and Fernandes and Bezerra (1979) named a new species. According to Harley (1978) C. mezii P.H.W. Taubert has one- or two-seeded fruits which are loments, and C. martii has one-seeded fruits by abortion of the lower ovule. The fruits of C. martii are homologous to those of C. mezii, and therefore are one-seeded loments. We had only one misshapen seed and a fruit for study.
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).
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
