Riedeliella

Taxonomy

Riedeliella H.A.T. Harms Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 38 Beibl. 72: 25. 13 Mar 1903.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.08.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Myroxylon.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 3 studied; 3 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legumelegume:
usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal sutures
; unilocular; 2.5–4 cm long; 2–3 cm wide; 0.15–0.3 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; with orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; 1-coiled; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; coiled; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; exceeding (crossing) longitudinal axis of fruit; emarginate 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 embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) absent (entire fruit acting like a wing); stipitate, or substipitate; with the stipe 0.1–5 mm long; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown (reddish to greenish); with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; 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; coriaceous (sub). Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; streaked; brown (reddish to greenish); with streaking above and below seed chambers; with brown overlay (reddish); smooth; 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 flattened; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 9–15 mm long; 5–7 mm wide; 0.5–0.6 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; C-shaped; flattened; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; with 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; brown (reddish); glabrous; not smooth; with elevated features; wrinkled; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; without faboid split; larger than punctiform; 0.8 mm long; with straight outline; linear; marginal according to radicle tip; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens not discernible. 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; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan (greenish); 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; linear; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Brazil and Paraguay.

New World; South America (Brazil, Paraguay); Brazil.

Generic Notes

Mohlenbrock (1962b) monographed the genus, and Lima and Fonseca Vaz (1984) revised it. The recent papers of Rizzini (1977, 1979, 1980) and Mattos Filho (1980) provided fruit and seed data.

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.