Piscidia

Taxonomy

Piscidia C. Linnaeus Nom. cons. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1151, 1155, 1376. 7 Jun 1759.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 7 studied; 7 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 3–20 cm long; 0.8–5 cm wide; 0.3–0.8 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width, or 2–9 times longer than wide, or more than 9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx, or 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; without beak, or with 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; tapered at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous, or coriaceous; 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) 4; wing(s) 1–25 mm wide; wing(s) valvular; wing(s) on both valves; stipitate, or substipitate; with the stipe 5–15 mm long; indehiscent. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; mottled, or streaked; brown, or green; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect and appressed, or erect, or appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; sericeous, or puberulent, or tomentose to velutinous; with pubescence white to brown; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not veined; transversely veined relative to fruit length (on wings), or reticulately veined (on legume); not tuberculate; irregularly papillose; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; spongy; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque, or translucent; monochrome; brown, or tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate, or nonseptate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 2–10; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–1 mm long; of 1 length only; triangular; straight. Aril present; fleshy, or dry; when fleshy annular; entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; when dry rim-aril; entire; cream to white.

Seed: 4–10 mm long; 2.5–5 mm wide; 1.5–3.2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; elliptic, or reniform; compressed; 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 shallow hilar sinus, or without hilar sinus; with umbo on seed faces, or without umbo on seed faces; with umbo on both faces of seed; 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; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent, or present; transverse. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through lens and terminating before base of seed; not bifurcating; darker than testa; brown; flush. 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; 1–1.5 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; 0.5–0.8 mm long; 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; tan; inner face flat, or wrinkled; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose to linear; lobe tip curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Florida, West Indies, and Central America.

New World; United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, and South America (Florida only in United States); the Guianas and Peru.

Generic Notes

Rudd (1969) summarized the genus.

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).