Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.07.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Myroxylon.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 2 in genus, or 3 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 4–9 cm long; 1–3 cm wide; 1–1.5 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; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; curved elliptic, or samaroid; with both sutures parallelly curved, or both sutures unequally curved; not inflated; compressed and flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base, or tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 40–65 mm wide; wing(s) samaroid; wing(s) basal; stipitate; with the stipe 5–10 mm long; indehiscent. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; tan; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; longitudinally veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; dotted, or lenticular; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick and thin; 1-layered; with balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; fleshy; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; creamy yellow; veined; with adhering pieces of testa, or without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; mostly remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1–2; length oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; flattened; convoluted. Aril absent.
Seed: 11–16 mm long; 7–8 mm wide; 7–8.5 mm thick; not overgrown; angular, or not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; irregular, or reniform; terete; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Testa present, or absent; without pieces of adhering epicarp; partially adhering to endocarp; fused to endocarp, at most a transparent brown tissue; dull; not modified by a bloom; clear; monochrome; transparent, light brown; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Hilum present (or unknown). Endosperm absent. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex; one thicker than the other, or 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; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; brown; inner face flat, or wavy; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique, or parallel, 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; bulbose; 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
