Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.27.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Dussia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 5 studied; 12 in genus.
Fruit: A legume, or a nutlet; unilocular; 4.5–12 cm long; 2–5 cm wide; 0.1–0.5 cm thick, or 2 cm thick (ca.); length less than twice as long as width, or 2–9 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 to curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical to asymmetrical (slightly); oblong to elliptic to circular (nearly); with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; flattened; without beak, or with beak (very short); straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex to emarginate at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous to coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas, or wing(s); wing(s) absent, or present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 3 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture; stipitate, or substipitate; with the stipe 1–6 mm long; apparently indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; golden yellow; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; short strigose; with pubescence brown; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases swollen; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; sparsely papillose, or lenticular and rugose; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin to thick; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome, or mottled; tan; with mottling more or less uniform (dark); with brown overlay; smooth, or smooth and floury-filamentous; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings, or with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1–2; length oblique to fruit length, or transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.5–2 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight. Aril absent.
Seed: 13–27 mm long; 6–8 mm wide; 2.3–3 mm thick; not overgrown; angular, or not angular; asymmetrical; irregularly elliptic, or irregular; compressed, or flattened, or mounded on 1 side and straight on other side; 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, or partially adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with infrequent mottles; black to brown; with black overlay; glabrous; not smooth; with recessed features; striate; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; 1–1.5 mm long; with angular outline, or straight outline; irregular; linear; apical at apex of radicle tip; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. Endosperm absent. 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; partially concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; green, or brown; inner face with central ridge on 1 and central groove on other; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; parallel to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; lobe tip straight; straight with embryonic axis; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
Herendeen and Dilcher (1990) described fossil fruits of Diplotropis and compared them with fruits of extant species. Lima (1985) presented a key to the genus and recognized 12 species, five more than Polhill (1981ba). We had three intact seeds of Diplotropis peruviana. The first seed that we dissected had three cotyledons (Figs. E, F). They were all the same width. Two were approximately the same length, and the third one was about one third as long as the other two. The second seed of D. peruviana had two cotyledons approximately the same length (Figs. G, H).
Tribe Sophoreae
Polhill (1981b) stated that the Sophoreae s.l. is a tribe of convenience between the Caesalpinioideae and the bulk of the Papilionoideae, sharply defined from neither. He transferred four genera from Sophoreae into the Swartzieae (1), Amburana (3.1.15), Ateleia (3.1.13), Cyathostegia (3.1.14), and Holocalyx (3.1.12), following Herendeen's (1995) cladistic analyses. Herendeen performed cladistic analyses for all Swartzieae genera, sensu Cowan (1981), 19 Sophoreae genera, and three Caesalpinioideae genera. He concluded that Swartzieae is polyphyletic and that it should be disbanded and its genera transferred to Sophoreae. Preliminary rbcL data (Doyle et al. 1997) supported his conclusions.
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
