Lamprolobium

Taxonomy

Lamprolobium G. Bentham Fl. Austral. 2: 202. 5 Oct 1864.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.23.02.
Tribe: Bossiaeeae.
Group: Templetonia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 2 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 4 cm long; 0.8–1 cm wide; 0.5 cm thick (estimated); 2–9 times longer than wide; 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; symmetrical; oblong; not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded 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; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down (assumed); active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp semiglossy; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; wrinkled (faintly); not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; subseptate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 5–7; length transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 3 mm long; of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril present; fleshy; when fleshy cupshaped (with 1 side longer (liplike) than other); entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; tan.

Seed: 5.3–6 mm long; 3.5–4 mm wide; 1.7–2.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; oblong; compressed; 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 (when immature), or mottled (when mature), or streaked (when mature); with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; reddish brown; with brown overlay (darker reddish); glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through lens to base of seed and terminating (beyond base of seed); not bifurcating; darker than testa; recessed. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 2 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; with margins curved; elliptic; in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 1.5 mm from hilum; mounded; similar color as testa; darker than testa; 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; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; partially 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; bulbose; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Australia (North Queensland).

Old World; Australia (north Queensland).

Generic Notes

The hilum-Seed length ratio is similar to the ratios seen in seeds of genera in tribe Phaseoleae (10) and Hovea (23.04).

Tribal Notes

Tribe Bossiaeeae

The Bossiaeeae with ten genera traditionally has been divided into two groups in part on fruit and seed characters. The Templetonia group with the first four genera (including at the time Lamprolobium, 23.02) has non-winged, coriaceous legumes and compressed seeds bearing a collarlike often-lipped aril (except Templetonia biloba (G. Bentham) R.M. Polhill), and a short, straight radicle. The Bossiaea group with the remaining genera has the legumes keeled to winged or not so, plump seeds often covered by a hooded caplike aril (lacking in Muelleranthus (23.08) and Ptychosema (23.09)), and a slender deflexed radicle exserted from the cotyledons. Crisp and Weston (1987, pages 105–107) in their cladistic analysis of the Bossiaeeae, Brongniartieae (22), and Mirbelieae (24), provided compelling evidence that the Bossiaeeae should be redefined to include only the Bossiaea group (genera 23.05–23.10). The Templetonia group would be moved to the Brongniartieae becoming genera three through eight, after Brongniarta (22.01) and Harpalyce (22.02). The proposed generic sequence would be: 3, Templetonia (23.01); 4, Lamprolobium; 5, Plagiocarpus (23.03); 6, ?Genus A (Templetonia incana J.H. Ross); 7, ?Genus B (Templetonia biloba (G. Bentham) R.M. Polhill); and 8, Hovea (23.04). They (Crisp and Weston, 1995) retracted their proposal to transfer the Templetonia group because of Chappill's (1995) cladistic analysis of the entire family, and we have used the traditional circumscriptions of the two tribes (Pohill, 1994a, 1994b).