Tachigali

Taxonomy

Tachigali J.B.C.F. Aublet Hist. Pl. Guiane 372. Jun 1775.

Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 1.1.06.
Tribe: Caesalpinieae.
Group: Sclerolobium.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 31 studied; ca. 60 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legumelegume:
usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal sutures
; unilocular; 1–16 cm long; 1–5 cm wide; 0.2–0.6 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; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; elliptic to 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; ligneous, or coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 0.1–55 mm wide (in Sclerolobium 0.1–8 mm wide); wing(s) samaroid, or sutural (sometimes only at base or apex); wing(s) basal and apical; substipitate to nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown (blackish to greenish or yellowish to reddish); with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; longitudinally veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; rugose; exfoliating; with cracks, or without cracks; cracking transverse to fruit length; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; with fibers (sometimes only over seed chamber); without reniform canals; fibrous throughout (sometimes with solid wing); ligneous, or coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull to glossy; opaque; monochrome; reddish brown to brown to tan; without adhering pieces of testa; septate, or nonseptate; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1–2; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–9 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; straight, or S-curved, or curved. Aril absent.

Seed: 12–17 mm long (Sclerolobium), or 25–35 mm long (Tachigali); 5–12 mm wide (Sclerolobium), or 15–20 mm wide (Tachigali); 1–3 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; oblong, or irregular; 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; glossy to dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines present, or absent; concentric and transverse, or reticulate. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; without faboid split; punctiform; subapical to radicle tip (sometimes nearly marginal); flush, or recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible, or not discernible; 3 mm long; with margins curved; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; flush; dissimilar color from testa; tan; 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; notched at radicle (and lobes); with lobes; with lobes touching (auriculate), or not touching; without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight (or almost straight); parallel to length of seed, or oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; centered between cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary, or moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Central America and tropical South America (Mainly Amazonia).

New World; Central America and South America (tropical, mainly Amazonia); Brazil, Ecuador, the Guianas, and Peru.

Generic Notes

The genus name spelling follows Aublet (1775) and not Polhill and Vidal (1981). Dwyer (1957) revised Sclerolobium J.R.T. Vogel. Zarucchi (pers. commun., 1984) hypothesized that Tachigali and Sclerolobium are congeneric, but Lewis (pers. commun., 1986) believed that floral morphology made this unlikely. Brako and Zarucchi (1993) and Barneby (1996) concluded that the two genera are synonymous, and started transferring Sclerolobium species to Tachigali for Peru and French Guiana, respectively. So we accepted their independent judgements, and synonymized Sclerolobium under Tachigali, the older name. During fruit disintegration and after the exocarp has exfoliated, mesocarp fibers over the seed chamber separate while the coalesced wing fibers remain united.