Muellera

Taxonomy

Muellera C. Linnaeus f. Nom. cons. Suppl. 53. Apr 1782.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 3 studied; 3 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment); 1–10 cm long; 0.6–3 cm wide; 0.6–2.5 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; asymmetrical; irregularly moniliform; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; terete to compressed; with beak, or without beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; leathery, or ligneous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted; margin constricted along both margins, or constricted on 1 margin and slightly constricted on the other margin; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; stipitate, or substipitate, or nonstipitate; with the stipe 5–10 mm long; indehiscent. Loment an intact article; indehiscent; segments (articles) conspicuous; segments (articles) 10–30 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) circular, or D-shaped. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; green to brown; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; rugose, or wrinkled; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick, or thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; ligneous, or coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; translucent; mottled; tan; with mottling more or less uniform; with brown overlay; scurfy, or smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–6; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus ca. 1 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 15–20 mm long; 6–12 mm wide; 5–10 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; ovate, or reniform; terete; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes, or without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; with deep hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Testa present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or streaked; with frequent streaks; brown; with brown overlay; 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 to base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; darker than testa; brown; flush. Hilum present; partially concealed, or fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; larger than punctiform; 2–5 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; marginal according to radicle tip; raised; within rim, or not within corona, halo, or rim; rim color darker than testa. Lens discernible; 2–4 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum, or adjacent to hilum; ca. 1 mm from hilum; flush; similar color as testa; darker than testa; brown; within halo, or not within corona, halo, or rim; halo color darker than testa. Endosperm present; trace; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; restricted to region of embryo; adnate to testa. 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; not concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan to yellow; inner face concave; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique, 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; triangular; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary, or moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Central and South America.

New World; Mexico, West Indies, Central America, and South America; Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas.

Generic Notes

Fortunato and Palese (1997) transferred Muellera fluvialis (C.A.M. Lindman) A.E. Burkart to Lonchocarpus as L. fluvialis (C.A.M. Lindman) R.H. Fortunato & R. Palese.

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).