Salweenia

Taxonomy

Salweenia E.G. Baker J. Bot. 73: 134. Mai 1935.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.42.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Sophora.
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; 6–9 cm long; 0.8–1.2 cm wide; ca. 0.4 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with persistent 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; symmetrical; linear to moniliform (slightly); not inflated; compressed; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit (slightly); rounded at base and tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit to oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit (slightly); with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted; margin very slightly constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; tan; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 2 types of pubescence; long and short sericeous; with pubescence white; 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 absent. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 5–8; length oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1.8–2.2 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; cream.

Seed: 6.3–7 mm long; 5–6.5 mm wide; 1.7–2.2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; irregular; compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between 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; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by radicle lobe; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; ca. 0.5 mm long; with curved outline; circular; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; ca. 1.5 mm long; with margins straight; narrowly diamond-shaped; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.3 mm from hilum; slightly mounded; similar color as testa; darker than testa; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; trace; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; restricted to region of 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; greenish tan to white (creamy); inner face flat; 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; lobe tip straight, or curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons, or 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Tibet.

Old World; China (Tibet).

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.