Platymiscium

Taxonomy

Platymiscium J.R.T. Vogel Linnaea 11: 198. Mar 1837.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.4.08.
Tribe: Dalbergieae.
Group: Dalbergia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 16 studied; ca. 18 in genus (R.T. Pennington, pers. comm).

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 4–15 cm long; 1.5–4.5 cm wide; 0.09–0.4 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; straight, or curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; elliptic, or oblong; not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit (slightly); short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; 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) 0.1–40 mm wide; wing(s) samaroid; wing(s) on both sutures; stipitate; with the stipe 7–10 mm long; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown (to greenish to reddish), or tan; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; wrinkled, or tuberculate (scattered); 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; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown (reddish); smooth and reticulate; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 7–20 mm long; 3–10 mm wide; 1.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform (to subreniform); 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 (to greenish); glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; wrinkled (slightly); chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible (faintly), or not visible; from hilum to lens; not bifurcating; darker than testa (slightly); brown (to greenish); raised. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; without faboid split; punctiform; marginal according to radicle tip; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible (faintly), or not discernible; with margins straight, or curved; oblong; oblong; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.1–8 mm from hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; 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; partially concealing radicle, or not concealing radicle (almost); entire over radicle; without lobes, or with lobes; with lobes not touching; without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; brown (reddish), or tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed; glabrous.

Distribution

West Indies, Central America, and South America.

New World; Mexico, or West Indies (Trinidad), or Central America (Guatemala to Panama), or South America (Colombia, Venezuela); Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas.

Generic Notes

Pittier (1918) provided some fruit and seed data for Platymiscium pinnatum (N. von Jacquin) A. Dugand, and Zamora and Klitgaard (1997) published a new species for Costa Rica, P. curuense N. Zamora & B.B. Klitgaard, which is included in the species count.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Dalbergieae

Lima (1989) analyzed the morphological characters of fruits, seeds and seedlings of the tribe and his characters and illustrations were used as a much appreciated source of accurate data. He also discussed the phylogeny of the tribe. Sousa and Sousa (1981) provided data to support their conclusion that the New World Lonchocarpinae be considered for tribal status: A segregate of the Dalbergieae. Hauman (1954) provided data on the Dalbergieae of Central Africa, and Lock (1989) listed the Dalbergieae for all of Africa. Thothathri (1986) reviewed the taxonomic status and systematic position of Asiatic Dalbergieae, and monographed tribe Dalbergieae for the Indian subcontinent (Thothathri, 1987). Morphological (Lima 1989) and molecular (Doyle et al. 1997) evidence has indicated that tribe Dalbergieae is polyphyletic.