Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.12.01.
Tribe: Psoraleeae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 10 studied; 32 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.25–0.7 cm long; 0.15–0.35 cm wide; 0.1–0.5 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx longer than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight to curved; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; oblong, or reniform; with both sutures parallelly curved, or both sutures unequally curved; partially inflated, or not inflated; compressed; without beak; short tapered at apex to rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit to oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit to right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit (nearly); rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit to oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; black, or red (brownish often concealed by deciduous white hairs); with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; glandular, or eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features, or recessed features; veined, or not veined; transversely veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; scaly, or wrinkled; glandularly punctate; exfoliating in part, or not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp absent. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus filiform; straight. Aril present, or absent; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; white.
Seed: 2.5–5 mm long; 1.5–3.5 mm wide; 1–2.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; compressed; 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; with pieces of adhering epicarp; partially adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; somewhat glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with frequent mottles; reddish brown, or green (brownish); with brownish black overlay; glabrous; smooth (when partially adhering endocarp not considered); coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funiculus, or funicular remnant; without faboid split; punctiform; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed; within corona; corona color lighter than testa (reddish to yellowish). 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 in radicle tissue; without margins recessed; yellow; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; parallel to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
Stirton (1981) transferred six African species of Psoralea (12.09) to Cullen. The unit of dispersal may include the soon deciduous to apparently permanent papery to leathery 5-lobed calyx. The calyx bears reddish glands and may be glabrous to pubescent with silvery to golden hairs. Grimes (1997) revised Cullen, and his species count is used. He accepted it as monophyletic because all of its species have a small invagination of the epicarp just above the fruit stalk on the ventral side. The invagination only partially penetrates the epicarp. The fruit of C. glandulosa (C. Linnaeus) J.W. Grimes abscises below the calyx and travels with the fruit, while in C. americanum the fruit falls free of the calyx. The fruit of C. glandulosa is unusual among the studied species because the upper one-half is more or less inflated and the lower one-half is adnate to the testa.
Tribe Psoraleeae
Stirton (1981) illustrated seeds and fruits of Amorpheae and Psoraleeae. Since Isely (1962) monographed the tribe for north-central United States the spelling of the tribe name has changed as well as the genera recognized in the tribe. Amorpha (6.04), Dalea (6.08) and Petalostemon A. Michaux (now part of Dalea) are now in the Amphoreae (6), and species in the remaining genus, Psoralea (12.09), have been assigned to several genera treated here. Grimes (1990) noted that this tribe "has been described as having indehiscent fruits. However, in many North American species the fruit is secondarily dehiscent (that is, not along sutures) by transverse rupture of the pod." This technically is not dehiscence.
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
