Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 3 studied; 10 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 6–15 cm long; (1.5–)2–5 cm wide; 0.1(–0.3) cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla, or persistent corolla; with various petals; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical (slightly); elliptic; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture; narrowing slightly once or twice on one side; not inflated; flattened; with beak, or without beak; straight, or declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; emarginate at apex, or rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; cordate or unequally cordate at base, or rounded at base (or unequally rounded); aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin slightly constricted only on 1 margin; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; sericeous to tomentose; with pubescence brown to golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; 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 absent. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome, or mottled; brown; with mottling more or less uniform (dark); with brown overlay; scurfy; with adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–2; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus ca. 0.7 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight. Aril absent.
Seed: 18–33 mm long; 10–16 mm wide; 0.3–1 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform (with beak-like flap near end furthest from hilum); flattened; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Testa present; with pieces of adhering epicarp, or without pieces of adhering epicarp; partially adhering to endocarp; fused to endocarp, at most a transparent brown tissue; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown; glabrous; not smooth; with elevated features; rugose; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum to near base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; color of testa; raised. Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; 1–3 mm long; with curved outline; fusiform; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; raised, or flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces flat; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; not concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; without margins recessed; tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis parallel; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
Mohanan and Nair (1981) reported it from India for the first time. Geesink (1984) transferred the two Australian and New Guinean species to Austrosteenisia. Ridder-Numan (1995) considered Kunstleria to be closely related to Butea (10.04), Meizotropis (10.06), and Spatholobus (10.05, Phaseolae subtribe Erythrinineae). Further study by Ridder-Numan and Van Der Ham (1997) supported the close relationships of these four genera, but was unable to resolve the placement of Spatholobus. Our fruit and seed data do not support this. Ridder-Numan and Kornet (1994) revised Kunstleria.
Tribe Millettieae
Geesink (1981) treated this tribe, as others before him, under the tribal name Tephroseae, but we now know that its correct name is Millettieae. Recent tribal studies (Geesink, 1981, 1984; Polhill, 1994a, 1994b) have arranged the genera in alphabetical order without phylogenetic numbers. Geesink (1984) monographed tribe Millettieae, and presented descriptive notes about fruits and seeds and in situ fruit and seed drawings. However, we are not entirely following Geesink (1984) for generic parameters because he either questioned the status of many of his new genera or did not make the necessary species transfers. The few new genera which he clearly recognized are being accepted. Lavin et al. (1998) developed a preliminary infratribal classification of six informal groups using phytochrome nucleotides: Millettia group, Lonchocarpus group, Derris group, Tephrosia group, "primitive" group, and Phaseoleae group. Lavin (1987) transferred Sphinctospermum to Millettieae. Lavin and Doyle (1991) carried out cladistic analyses integrating morphological and chloroplast DNA data, and concluded that it is a member of Robineae where we have placed it (now 8.12).
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
