Mundulea

Taxonomy

Mundulea (A.P. de Candolle) G. Bentham In Miquel, Pl. Jungh. 2: 248. Aug 1852.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 12 in genus (Du Puy et al., 2002).

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; (1–)3–11 cm long; 0.45–1.2 cm wide; 0.2–0.4 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide, or more than 9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; linear, or moniliform; not inflated; compressed, or flattened; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; tapered at apex, or short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous to coriaceous, or ligneous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with ridge(s); wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing, or indehiscent (rarely); splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active, or passive; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown to tan; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or glabrous to glabrate (occassionally); with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; tomentose to velutinous; with pubescence brown to tan; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; surface uniformly veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; translucent; monochrome; yellow; scurfy and smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; subseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; exfoliating in part; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–9; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.5–1 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril (minute); entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; cream.

Seed: 4–7 mm long; 3–5 mm wide; 1.2–2.3 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; ovate to reniform; compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; with shallow 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; green to tan to brown to black to yellow; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; ca. 1 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; within rim; rim color darker than testa. Lens discernible; with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; similar color as testa; darker than testa; brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. 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; not concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; white to yellow; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique to right angled; perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Madagascar with M. sericea also in many African countries, India, and Sri Lanka.

Old World; Africa, Madagascar, Indian Ocean, and India.

Generic Notes

Geesink (1984) noted "Mundulea is strikingly similar to Tephrosia," and our fruit and seed observations support him.

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).