Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.05.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Myroxylon.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 4 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 2.5–19 cm long; 0.7–2 cm wide; 0.1–0.3 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide, or more than 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; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; elliptic to fusiform to falcate (slightly); with both sutures nearly straight; not inflated; flattened; without beak, or with beak (short); declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex, or tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 2; wing(s) 2–6 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on both sutures; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Epicarp dull; multicolored; bichrome, or mottled; orangish or greenish brown; with brown overlay (darker); mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or glabrate (from literature); eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; longitudinally veined relative to fruit length (with some reticulation); not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; trace; 1-layered; with balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; mealy; chartaceous. Endocarp present; concealed; concealed by adnate testa; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 3–5; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 2 different lengths. Aril absent.
Seed: Ca. 23 mm long; 5.5–6 mm wide; ca. 2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; elliptic; compressed; with surface wrinkled; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Testa present; with pieces of adhering epicarp; fused to endocarp, at most a transparent brown tissue. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Endosperm absent. 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; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan; inner face flat; 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; triangular; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
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.
Authors: J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, A.L. Weitzman, M.J. Dallwitz, K.R. Thiele
Content last updated April 2003
Released April 2024 on idtools.org
