Melliniella

Taxonomy

Melliniella H.A.T. Harms Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 51: 359. 16 Jun 1914.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.19.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Desmodiinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1–1.3 cm long; 0.2 cm wide; 0.5–0.7 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; slightly curved, or straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; C-shaped, or linear; with both sutures parallelly curved, or both sutures nearly straight; not inflated; compressed; with beak; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex, or tapered at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous; 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, or nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along 1 suture; apical and down; passive. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown, or tan; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs (with hooked tips); pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; transversely veined relative to fruit length and reticulately veined; not tuberculate; 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; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull, or glossy; opaque; monochrome; brown; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate, or nonseptate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 5–8; length transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril present (but difficult to see), or absent; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; reddish brown, or tan.

Seed: 1.2–1.3 mm long; 1.1–1.2 mm wide; 0.6–0.7 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; mitaform, or oblong; compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; with external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; with external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes same color as testa; 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; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; reddish brown, or tan; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible (but difficult to see because of size and color); with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; within rim; rim color of testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa, or similar color as testa; darker than testa; black, or brown (darker reddish); not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to embryo. 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; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; white; 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 length; centered between cotyledons; 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Western tropical Africa.

Old World; Africa (western tropical).

Generic Notes

Harms (1914) founded the genus and provided fruit and seed drawings. Ohashi et al. (1981) noted that Meliniella is "a minor segregate of Alysicarpus" (11.18).

Tribal Notes

Tribe Desmodieae

Ohashi et al. (1981) started their treatment of the Desmodieae with these thoughts: "A sensible classification of Desmodieae is prejudiced by the traditional over-weighting of fruit characters." (sic) "The fruit normally consists of indehiscent jointed articles, but fruits that open have arisen at least seven times..." They supplemented their text with a fruit-seed plate. They placed Brya and Cranocarpus (11.02), the only two New World endemic genera, in the new subtribe Bryinae, "characterized most notably by glochidiate hairs." Bailey et al. (1997), using the chloroplast rpl2 intron and ORF184, suggested that Brya, Cranocarpus, Phylacium (11.22), and Neocollettia (11.26) are not members of Desmodieae and that they probably belong in Aeschynomeneae (14).