Eleiotis

Taxonomy

Eleiotis A.P. de Candolle Prodr. 2: 348. Nov (med.) 1825.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.21.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Desmodiinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 2 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.6–0.65 cm long; 0.2–2.5 cm wide; 0.1–0.15 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; C-shaped; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; compressed; with beak, or without beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; 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 not constricted; margin with sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; mottled and streaked; reddish brown, or purple; with green overlay; with surface texture uniform; glabrous (at first glance glabrous but with careful examination puberulent), or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent (tiny hairs); with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; pliable; with hair bases plain; glandular, or eglandular; with glandular dots (absent to numerous); 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 present, or absent; trace, or thin (very); surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus flattened; straight. Aril present (inconspicuous), or absent; dry; when dry rim-aril and tongue-aril; entire; reddish brown.

Seed: 4 mm long; 2.7 mm wide; 1–1.1 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform (sub), or oblong; compressed; 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, or mottled and streaked; with frequent mottles; very dark reddish brown, or black, or tan (greenish), or green; with purple overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split lighter colored than the rest of the hilum and therefore conspicuous; larger than punctiform; 0.5 mm long; with straight outline; oblong; marginal according to radicle tip; flush; within halo; halo darker than testa. Lens discernible; 0.5 mm long; with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa, or same color as testa; darker than testa; very dark reddish brown, or black (nearly), or tan (greenish); not within corona, halo, or rim. 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; completely concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; reddish brown; 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; linear; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

India.

Old World; India.

Generic Notes

Based on its fruit characters (Presence or absence of hairs and glandular dots) Eleiotis monophylla may be a mixed species.

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).