Platycelyphium

Taxonomy

Platycelyphium H.A.T. Harms Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 38: 74. 3 Oct 1905.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.38.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Sophora.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 4.5–6 cm long; 2.5–3 cm wide; 4.5–5 cm thick; 2–9 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; asymmetrical; elliptic to ovate; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; compressed; with beak; straight; with papery fragile beak up to 1 cm long; emarginate at apex, or rounded 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; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; with the stipe 0.1–3 mm long; indehiscent. Epicarp dull; multicolored; bichrome; tan; with brown overlay (over seed chamber); with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; sparsely strigose; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; 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 not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; mottled; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus ca. 0.5 mm long; thick; straight. Aril present; dry; when dry thin rim-aril; entire; cream.

Seed: 12–18 mm long; 8–10.5 mm wide; 4–6.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; irregularly ovate; compressed; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; with 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; mottled; with infrequent mottles; tan; with brown overlay; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through lens to base of seed and bifurcating; bifurcating at base of seed with each arm going up antiraphe side turning (U-shaped) down and approaching bifurcation; color of testa and 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; 1–1.2 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; 2–2.5 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; flush; similar color as testa; darker than testa; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; 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; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; pale yellow; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis right angled; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip slightly curved; with 90 degree turn; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Eastern and northeastern Africa.

Old World; Africa.

Generic Notes

van der Maesen treated Platycelyphium in 1970.

Tribal Notes

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.