Derris

Taxonomy

Derris J. de Loureiro Nom. cons. Fl. Cochinch. 432. Sep 1790.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: ca. 15 studied; ca. 45 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 2.5–14(–20) cm long; 0.8–3.5 cm wide; 0.2–1 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width, or 2–9 times longer than wide, or more than 9 times longer than wide; 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; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; elliptic, or moniliform (slightly), or oblong, or falcate, or irregular, or obliquely obovate; with both sutures parallelly curved, or both sutures unequally curved; not inflated; compressed, or flattened; without beak, or with beak; declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex, or blunt at apex, or tapered at apex, or long tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique 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; chartaceous, or coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted, or constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins, or slightly constricted only on 1 margin; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1, or 2; wing(s) 1–5 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture, or both sutures; substipitate, or nonstipitate; with the stipe 0.1–3 mm long; indehiscent. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; mottled; brown, or tan; with brown overlay (darker); mottling color combination constant, or variable; with mottling over seed chambers; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs erect, or appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; sparsely puberulent to pilose, or sericeous (sparsely); with pubescence golden to brown; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; sometimes dotted; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present, or absent; thin; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid, or firm-walled open empty cells; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque, or translucent; monochrome, or mottled; brown, or tan, or white, or yellow; with mottling more or less uniform (dark); with brown overlay; floury-filamentous, or smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating, or exfoliating in part; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; remaining fused to epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1–2(–8); length oblique to fruit length, or transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.5–3 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight, or triangular. Aril present, or absent; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; cream.

Seed: 3.5–25 mm long; 3–17 mm wide; 1.8–10 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; elliptic, or ovate, or reniform; compressed, or 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; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown (various shades); glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; wrinkled; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible, or visible; from hilum to near base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; slightly lighter than testa; recessed. Hilum present; partially concealed, or fully concealed; concealed by aril, or funiculus; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 1–4 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic, or oval; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; flush, or recessed; within halo, or not within corona, halo, or rim; halo darker than testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; 0.5–1.5 mm long; with margins straight; linear, or triangular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; flush; similar color as testa; darker than testa; brown, or black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present, or absent; trace; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo, or covering at least 1/2 of embryo, but not entire embryo, or restricted to region of embryo; adnate to testa, or embryo. Cotyledons smooth, or not smooth; sulcate, or wrinkled; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; 1 longer than other, or both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; partially concealing radicle; notched at radicle, or split over radicle; with lobes, or without lobes; with lobes touching (auriculate); without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan, or tan and brown; inner face flat, or concave; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique, or right angled, or straight; oblique to length of seed, or parallel to length of seed, or perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose, or linear, or triangular; lobe tip straight, or curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary, or moderately developed, or well developed; glabrous.

Distribution

SE Asia, D. trifoliata J. de Loureiro from east Africa to Australia and west Pacific, 4–5 spp. in South America (Deguelia J.B.C.F. Aublet in Geesink, 1984Geesink, 1984:
Geesink R. 1984. Scala Millettiearum. E.J. Brill/Leiden University Press, Leiden, The Netherlands.).

Old World and New World; South America; Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas; Southwest Asia, China, Africa, Madagascar, Indian Ocean, India, Indochina, Indonesia and the Philippines, Australia, Pacific, and Fiji.
 

Generic Notes

Geesink (1981) recognized three sections: Derris sect. Brachypterum (R. Wight & G.A.W. Arnott) G. Bentham, "three or possibly more species in southeast Asia," which he raised to generic rank (Geesink 1984); Derris sect. Paraderris F.A.W. Miquel, "six species in southeast Asia," which he also raised to generic rank (Geesink 1984); and, Derris sect. Derris "(including section Dipteroderris Bentham) more than 50 species in southeast Asia, one mangrove species extending to east Africa, three species in Australia, and four species in Brazil and the Guianas." Thothathri (1982) treated Derris for India, and recognized four sections: Derris sect. Brachypterum; Derris sect. Derris; Derris sect. Dipteroderris G. Bentham; and Derris sect. Paraderris. We did not accept either Brachypterum R. Wight & G.A.W. Arnott or Paraderris (F.A.W. Miquel) R. Geesink at generic rank.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Millettieae

Geesink (1981) treated this tribe, as others before him, under the tribal name Tephroseae, but we now know that its correct name is Millettieae. Recent tribal studies (Geesink, 1981, 1984; Polhill, 1994a, 1994b) have arranged the genera in alphabetical order without phylogenetic numbers. Geesink (1984) monographed tribe Millettieae, and presented descriptive notes about fruits and seeds and in situ fruit and seed drawings. However, we are not entirely following Geesink (1984) for generic parameters because he either questioned the status of many of his new genera or did not make the necessary species transfers. The few new genera which he clearly recognized are being accepted. Lavin et al. (1998) developed a preliminary infratribal classification of six informal groups using phytochrome nucleotides: Millettia group, Lonchocarpus group, Derris group, Tephrosia group, "primitive" group, and Phaseoleae group. Lavin (1987) transferred Sphinctospermum to Millettieae. Lavin and Doyle (1991) carried out cladistic analyses integrating morphological and chloroplast DNA data, and concluded that it is a member of Robineae where we have placed it (now 8.12).