Poeppigia

Taxonomy

Poeppigia C.B. Presl Symb. Bot. 1: 15. Oct 1830.

Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 1.1.36.
Tribe: Caesalpinieae.
Group: Poeppigia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legumelegume:
usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal sutures
; unilocular; 4–9 cm long; 1–1.5 cm wide; 0.1–0.2 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 to curved; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; oblong; not inflated; flattened; without beak; long tapered at apex to tapered 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; chartaceous; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 0.1–1.2 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture (ventral); stipitate; with the stipe 5–7 mm long; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp nearly glossy; monochrome; brown (tannish to reddish); with surface texture uniform; glabrous; 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 absent (or nearly so). Endocarp present; visible; nearly glossy; opaque; monochrome; yellow to tan; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; not exfoliating; entire. Seed(s) 2–6; length transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–1.5 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 4.5–6.5 mm long; 4.5–5.5 mm wide; 1–2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; ovate; compressed; 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; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; reddish brown; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines present; transverse reticulate. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible (well-defined from hilum to base). Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; punctiform (with blackish patch); subapical to radicle tip; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible (basal - 180 degress from hilum); 0.1–1 mm long; with margins straight; oblong; not in groove of raphe; mounded; similar color as testa, or dissimilar color from testa (?); darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; adnate to embryo. 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 not touching; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; parallel to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; centered between cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Cuba, Mexico to El Salvador and Colombia, central and eastern Brazil.

New World; West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and South America; Peru, Brazil, and the Guianas.

Generic Notes

Polhill and Vidal (1981) described the seeds of Poeppigia as "compressed, ovate, shortly beaked, with faint closed areoles on both faces." There clearly are two parts to the face of a seed: Marginal, which is glossy, darker colored, and without fracture lines, and facial, which may be duller, lighter colored, and always with transverse fracture lines. There is no pleurogram.