Geissaspis

Taxonomy

Geissaspis R. Wight & G.A.W. Arnott Prodr. 217. Oct (prim.) 1834.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.14.13.
Tribe: Aeschynomeneae.
Subtribe: Aeschynomeninae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 3 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume, or a loment (or a loment segment); unilocular; 0.35–0.8 cm long; 0.25–0.35 cm wide; 0.1–0.15 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with persistent 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; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; compressed; without beak, or with beak; straight, or declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit (if present, quite small); rounded at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit (more or less); with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1 (article); wing(s) 0.5–0.6 mm wide; wing(s) continuous wing around fruit; substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Loment indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 5–6 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) D-shaped. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; streaked; brown, or tan; with red overlay; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; with pubescence brown; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; with cracks (if cracked because fruit is fragile), or without cracks; cracking irregular; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown, or tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1, or 2; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 2.2–2.8 mm long; 1.8–2.2 mm wide; 0.9–1.1 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; compressed; with 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; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; reddish brown; glabrous; smooth; osseous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible, or not visible; from hilum to lens; not bifurcating; color of testa, or darker than testa; black (ish); recessed. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; punctiform; marginal according to radicle tip, or between cotyledon and radicle lobe; recessed; within rim, or not within corona, halo, or rim; rim color of testa. Lens discernible; 1–2 mm long; with margins curved; more or less circular; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 2 mm from hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black (ish); 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; partially concealing radicle to not concealing radicle; split over radicle; with lobes; with lobes touching (auriculate); with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; yellow; 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; more or less bulbose; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Tropical and subtropical Asia.

Old World; tropical and subtropical Southwest Asia, India, Indochina, China, and Indonesia and the Philippines.

Generic Notes

Duvigneaud (1954b) evaluated the genus.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Aeschynomeneae

Rudd (1981a) recognized four subtribes of Aeschynomeneae: Ormocarpinae V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.01–3.14.08), Aeschynomeninae (genera 3.14.09–3.14.16), Discolobinae (A.E. Burkart) V.E. Rudd (genus 3.14.17: Discolobium), Poiretiinae (A.E. Burkart) V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.18–3.14.21), and Stylosanthinae (G. Bentham) V.E. Rudd (genera 3.14.22–13.4.26). Tribal and subtribal placement of Diphysa is based on Lavin (1987; Polhill, 1994a, 1994b), and not on Polhill and Sousa (1981), who placed Diphysa in Robinieae. Bailey et al. (1997), using the chloroplast rpl2 intron and ORF184, suggested that Brya (11.01), Cranocarpus (11.02), Phylacium (11.22), and Neocollettia (11.26) are not members of Desmodieae (11) and that they probably belong in Aeschynomeneae.