Meizotropis

Taxonomy

Meizotropis J.O. Voigt Hortus Suburb. Calcut. 239. 1845.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.06.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Erythrininae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 2 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 5–9 cm long; 2–4.3 cm wide; 0.5–0.8 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; irregular, or samaroid; with both sutures unequally curved; not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base to truncate at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous and leathery; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas (especially dorsally), or wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 28–35 mm wide (and 30–60 mm long); wing(s) samaroid; wing(s) basal; stipitate (from literature); with the stipe 5–6 mm long (from literature); apparently indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous (from literature); with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; velutinous; with pubescence white; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not veined; irregularly veined; not tuberculate; knobbed; not exfoliating; with cracks, or without cracks; cracking irregular; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; surface not veined; 2-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; with spongy layer over solid layer; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome, or mottled; brown, or tan; with mottling over seed chambers; with brown overlay; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; exfoliating in part; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp. Seed(s) 1 (1–2 in literature); length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 2 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight. Aril present; dry; when dry 2-lipped rim-aril; entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; without tongue (or flap) on lips of 2-lipped rim-aril; tan.

Seed: 19.5 mm long (17–22 from literature); 16.4 mm wide (10–17 from literature); 7 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; flattened; 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; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; dark brown; glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; wrinkled; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through lens and base of seed to point opposite hilum; not bifurcating; color of testa; raised. Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; 1.8 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; recessed; same color as testa; within rim; rim color of testa. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons smooth; 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; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; orange; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique; perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed; glabrous.

Distribution

India to Burma.

Old World; India to Indochina.

Generic Notes

Sanjappa (1987) monographed the genus which was not recognized by Lackey (1981). It was inserted in phylogenetic order following Polhill (1994b). Ridder-Numan (1995) and Ridder-Numan and Van Der Ham (1997) considered this genus to be closely related to Butea (10.04) and Spatholobus (10.05) and to Kunstleria in Millettieae (7).

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.