Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 1.1.15.
Tribe: Caesalpinieae.
Group: Peltophorum.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 7 studied; 5–7 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 4–15 cm long; 1.5–43 cm wide; 0.2–0.4 cm thick; 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; curved; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; elliptic to oblong; not inflated; flattened; without beak; long tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; long tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit to oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous, or ligneous; seed chambers externally visible; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 0.1–6 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture; substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; occasionally multicolored, or monochrome; mottled; tannish to dark reddish brown; with occasionally black overlay; with surface texture uniform; glabrate to pubescent and indurate (golden or silvery); with hairs erect; with simple hairs; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; longitudinally veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; striate (longitudinally), or pusticulate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; surface not veined; 2-layered; without balsamic vesicles; with fibers; without reniform canals; with fibers transverse reticulate over spongy tissue; ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; dull to glossy; opaque; monochrome; brown; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1–8; length parallel with fruit length to transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–12 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; straight, or curved. Aril absent.
Seed: 9–12 mm long; 3.5–11 mm wide; 1–3 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; circular to oblong; flattened; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without 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; brown; glabrous; smooth; osseous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines present; concentric. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible, or not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; without faboid split; punctiform; apical at apex of radicle tip to subapical to radicle tip; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; 0.6 mm long; with margins straight, or curved; linear; elliptic, or circular; not in groove of raphe; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; tan; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present, or absent; thick; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; adnate to testa. 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; partially concealing radicle; with lobes; with lobes touching (auriculate), or not touching; without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight to deflexed; parallel to length of seed to oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; centered between cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed to well developed; glabrous.
West Indies, Brazil to northern Argentina, southern tropical Africa, tropical Asia (but not India) to Australia.
New World and Old World; West Indies and South America (Brazil to northern Argentina); Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador; southern tropical Africa, China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, and Australia (tropical, but not India).
Barneby (1996) reviewed the American members of this genus, and concluded that there is but a single species, P. dubium (C.P.J. Sprengel) P.H.W. Taubert, with three varieties: P. dubium var. adnatum (A.H.R. Grisebach) R.C. Barneby, P. dubium var. berteroanum (I. Urban) R.C. Barneby, and P. dubium var. dubium.
Seed, cotyledon, embryo, and testa: P. africanum Sonder - bottom left center seeds; P. brasiliense I. Urban - top far left cotyledon concealing only margins of radicle (above) and embryonic axis (below); P. mollis ( K.S. Kunth) I.B. Balfour & E.P. Killip - bottom far left seed topography; P. pterocarpum (de Candolle) Backer ex K. Heyne - top left center cotyledon auriculate and concealing most of radicle (L) and embryonic axis (R), testa SEMs.
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