Spirotropis

Taxonomy

Spirotropis E.L.R. Tulasne Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. 4: 113. 1844.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.32.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Dussia.
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; 7–9 cm long (immature); 2–2.5 cm wide (immature); 0.2–0.3 cm thick (immature); 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; obliquely fusiform; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; flattened; with beak (2–4 mm long); straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent (reported in literature). Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect to appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; villous; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; wrinkled; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome; tan to white; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; coriaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–2.

Distribution

Northeastern South America.

New World; South America; Ecuador.

Generic Notes

Only immature fruits were studied. No seeds were available.

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.