Inocarpus

Taxonomy

Inocarpus J.R. Forster & J.G. Forster Nom. cons. Charact. Gen. 33. 29 Nov 1775.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.10.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Myroxylon.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 3 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume, or a nutlet; unilocular; 5–8 cm long; 4–7 cm wide; 1.9–4.5 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; oblong, or circular; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; terete; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; when fresh drupaceous and ligneous (when dry); seed chambers externally invisible; margin constricted (if 2-seeded), or not constricted; margin constricted only on 1 margin; margin without sulcus; margin plain; substipitate; indehiscent, or with all layers dehiscing (but opening thus permitting entry of water); splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along 1 suture; medial and up and down; passive. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; wrinkled; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; surface uniformly veined; 2-layered; without balsamic vesicles; with fibers; without reniform canals; with fibers over solid layer; ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; glossy (nearly); opaque; monochrome; brown (reddish); smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and 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: 4–4.5 mm long; 4 mm wide; 2.5 mm thick; overgrown, 1 seed filling entire fruit cavity; angular; asymmetrical; oblong; terete; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; 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 (dark reddish); glabrous; not smooth; with elevated features; veined and wrinkled; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim present; wing-like along 1 side of seed. Wing(s) present. Raphe visible (if the wing is consider the raphe); from hilum to near base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; color of testa; raised. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; 0.5 mm long; with curved outline, or straight outline; circular; oblong; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons not smooth (wrinkled); 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; split over radicle; with lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan (dirty); 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 width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Malesia, New Guinea, and Pacific Islands.

Old World; Indochina (Malaysia), or Australia, or Indonesia and the Philippines (New Guinea), or Pacific (islands), or Fiji.

Generic Notes

Bentham (1862) reported on the confusion caused by seeing Inocarpus and Etaballia (2.09) for the first time. He also recorded some of the uses of I. fagifer.

Tribal Notes

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.