Herpyza

Taxonomy

Herpyza C. Wright In Sauvalle, Anales Acad. Ci. Méd. Habana 5: 335. 15 Jan 1869.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.28.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Diocleinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.7–1.8 cm long; 0.5–0.7 cm wide; length less than twice as long as width to 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; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; oblong (when 2–4 seeded), or ovate (when 1 seeded); not inflated; compressed; with beak (1–2 mm long); straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted (when 2–4 seeded), or not constricted (when 1 seeded); margin constricted along both margins to slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; green; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent, or sericeous; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth; not veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Endocarp present (Lewis, 1988); septate (Lewis, 1988); without wings. Seed(s) 1–4 (Lewis, 1988; Léon and Alain, 1951); neither overlapping nor touching. Aril absent.

Seed: Ca. 3.4 mm long (Lews, 1988); ca. 2.8 mm wide (Lewis, 1988Lewis, 1988:
Lewis GP. 1988. Four little-known species of Leguminosae from Cuba. Willdenowia 18:223–229.); not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; sub reniform (lewis, 1988Lewis, 1988:
Lewis GP. 1988. Four little-known species of Leguminosae from Cuba. Willdenowia 18:223–229.); 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; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; glabrous; smooth (Lewis, 1988Lewis, 1988:
Lewis GP. 1988. Four little-known species of Leguminosae from Cuba. Willdenowia 18:223–229.: Fig. 4). Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent (Lewis, 1988: Fig. 4). Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split (assumed).

Distribution

Cuba.

New World; West Indies (Cuba).

Generic Notes

Lackey (1981) noted that Herpyza is "very poorly known." Lewis (1988) published fruit-seed illustrations which were drawn from the type: "1865, Wright 2325 (K)." Urban (1908) also published a fruit-seed illustration. A single immature fruit of H. grandiflora (A.H.R. Grisebach) C.H. Wright was studied.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Phaseoleae

Bruneau et al. (1995) carried out cladistic analyses of tribe Phaseoleae using chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Their results indicated that the tribe is not monophyletic and that the tribal delimitations between Phaseoleae and Desmodieae (11) and between Phaseoleae and Millettieae (7) are problematic.