The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees; without tendrils; unarmed. Phyllotaxy distichous. Leaves compound; pinnate; paripinnate. Leaflets opposite or sub-opposite; petiolulate; with petiolules not noticeably twisted. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous (deciduous); leafy, or neither leafy nor spinescent; not connate. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers showy; hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx, or in the calyx and in the corolla; coloured; in simple racemes (long, lax pendulous); not distichous (on long pedicels). Inflorescences terminal; of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis. Bracteoles present; relatively large and enclosing the flower buds (coloured); persistent beyond anthesis; valvate. Hypanthium present. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.5. Calyx polysepalous; covering the rest of the flower in bud; more or less regular; 4 partite (petaloid); imbricate. Corolla present; very zygomorphic (uppermost petal broad, obcordate, laterals oblong cuneate, lower minute); polypetalous; including greatly reduced petals. Petals red; 3 (rare), or 5; imbricate; imbricate-ascending. Androecium of ten parts; with united members (9 united, 1 free); members markedly unequal; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 10. Anthers attached well above base of connective. Ovary stipitate; excentric with adnate stipe (the style filiform). Ovules numerous.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod; becoming distinctly woody; curved; not winged; without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds non-endospermic; not arillate; amyloid-positive.
Transverse section of lamina. Leaves with conspicuous phloem transfer cells in the minor veins.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum striate; interwoven striate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance.
Cytology, geography, etc. Basic chromosome number, x = 12. 2n = 24. 1 species. Eastern Asia. Burma. Widely cultivated.
Tribe. Detarieae (Amherstieae of Cowan and Polhill 1981).
The interactive key provides access to the character list, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, and summaries of attributes within groups of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1993 onwards. The genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae: descriptions, identification, and information retrieval. In English and French; French translation by E. Chenin. Version: 19th October 2005. http://delta-intkey.com’.