Leptoderris

Taxonomy

Leptoderris S.T. Dunn Bull. Misc. Inform. 1910: 386. Dec 1910.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 6 studied; 20–30 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 2.6–10 cm long; 1.2–3.6 cm wide; 0.3–0.4 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width, or 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, or asymmetrical; circular (or obliquely so), or elliptic, or falcate; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; flattened; with beak, or without beak; straight; 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; rounded at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas, or wing(s); wing(s) present, or absent; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 0.1–4 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; tan; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrate, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; sericeous to strigose; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff, or pliable; with hair bases swollen, or plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; sometimes wrinkled; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present, or absent; thin, or trace; surface uniformly veined, or not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; firm-walled open empty cells, or mealy; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; translucent; monochrome, or mottled; tan; with mottling more or less uniform (dark); with brown overlay; scurfy, or veined, or scurfy and veined; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; exfoliating in part, or not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; remaining fused to epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp, or without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1(–3); length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1–7.5 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 13–23 mm long; 11–20 mm wide; 1.8–3 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; reniform; flattened; with surface smooth, or wrinkled; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; with deep hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Cuticle not exfoliating; not inflated; not wrinkled. Testa present; with pieces of adhering epicarp, or without pieces of adhering epicarp; partially adhering to endocarp, or not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with infrequent mottles; brown; with brown overlay; glabrous; not smooth; with elevated features; wrinkled; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible, or not visible; from hilum to near base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; darker than testa; raised. Hilum present; visible, or fully concealed; concealed by funiculus; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; 0.8–1.5 mm long; with curved outline; fusiform; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; raised; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons smooth, or 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; partially concealing radicle; split over radicle; with lobes; with lobes not touching; without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan; inner face flat, or wavy; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique, or parallel, or right angled; oblique to length of seed, or perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; lobe tip straight, or curved; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Tropical Africa.

Old World; Africa.

Tribal Notes

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).