Monopteryx

Taxonomy

Monopteryx R. Spruce ex G. Bentham Fl. Bras. 15(1): 307. t. 122. Jan 1862.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.31.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Dussia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 3 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 11–20 cm long; 3–5.5 cm wide; 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; asymmetrical; falcate; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; flattened; without beak; tapered at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; leathery to ligneous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 4; wing(s) ca. 3.5 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on both sutures; stipitate; with the stipe 5–17 mm long; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; brown; with brown overlay (darker); mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; smooth; not veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; with cracks; cracking oblique to fruit length; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; 3-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; with vitriol layer over 2 distinct solid layers; ligneous to coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown; scurfy and smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1.

Seed: Ca. 35 mm long; ca. 25.5 mm wide; ca. 5.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; ovate; flattened; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Testa absent; not adhering to endocarp. Cotyledons 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; notched at 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; brown; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; parallel to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; lobe tip straight; straight with embryonic axis; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons.

Distribution

Brazil and Venezuela.

New World; South America (Brazil and Venezuela); Brazil and Ecuador.

Generic Notes

Only part of one fruit and one seed without testa were studied.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Sophoreae

Polhill (1981b) stated that the Sophoreae s.l. is a tribe of convenience between the Caesalpinioideae and the bulk of the Papilionoideae, sharply defined from neither. He transferred four genera from Sophoreae into the Swartzieae (1), Amburana (3.1.15), Ateleia (3.1.13), Cyathostegia (3.1.14), and Holocalyx (3.1.12), following Herendeen's (1995) cladistic analyses. Herendeen performed cladistic analyses for all Swartzieae genera, sensu Cowan (1981), 19 Sophoreae genera, and three Caesalpinioideae genera. He concluded that Swartzieae is polyphyletic and that it should be disbanded and its genera transferred to Sophoreae. Preliminary rbcL data (Doyle et al. 1997) supported his conclusions.