The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Isomacrolobium Aubrév. & Pellegr., Triplisomeris Aubrév. & Pellegr., Leonardendron Aubrév.
Habit and leaf form. Trees; without tendrils; unarmed. Phyllotaxy spiral. Leaves compound; pinnate; paripinnate. Leaflets many per leaf; opposite or sub-opposite; without a continuous marginal nerve; petiolulate; with petiolules not noticeably twisted. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous; neither leafy nor spinescent; connate, or not connate. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers hermaphrodite; pentamerous (gabunense), or not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx, in the corolla, and in the androecium (usually); in panicles (usually); not distichous. Inflorescences of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis. Bracteoles present; small, not enclosing the flower buds, or relatively large and enclosing the flower buds; persistent beyond anthesis; valvate. Hypanthium present. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.25. Calyx polysepalous; more or less regular, or markedly zygomorphic; 4–5 partite. Corolla present; actinomorphic, or slightly zygomorphic, or very zygomorphic; polypetalous; including greatly reduced petals, or without any greatly reduced petals. Petals 2–6. Androecium of fewer than ten parts, or of ten parts (rare); with united members, or members all free of one another; members markedly unequal; with staminodia, or without staminodia (gabunense). Fertile stamens 3–5. Anthers attached well above base of connective. Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary sessile or subsessile; excentric with adnate stipe. Ovules few, or numerous, or solitary.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod; becoming distinctly woody; with prominent, raised veins; with veins other than the longitudinal ones predominating; not winged; valves twisting and enrolling during dehiscence, or without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds not arillate; with a straight or slightly oblique radicle; amyloid-positive. Cotyledons not flat; hypogeal.
Transverse section of lamina. Druses common in the mesophyll, or absent from the mesophyll. Mesophyll secretory cavities absent. Adaxial hypodermis absent. Leaf girders common (the veins transcurrent). Laminae dorsiventral. Mesophyll without unaligned fibres or sclereids. Minor veins mainly with abundant accompanying fibres.
Leaf lamina epidermes. Epidermal crystals not seen either adaxially or abaxially. Simple unbranched hairs common; smooth. No compound or branched eglandular hairs seen. Capitate glands not seen. Hooked hairs not seen. Cassieae-type leaf pseudo-glands present, or not seen. Expanded and embedded hair-feet present, or absent; (at least some of them) thin-walled; hair feet all simple, without vertical walls. Basally bent hairs absent. Adaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight in optical section; not conspicuously pitted; thick to medium-thick. Stomata adaxially very rare. Abaxial stomata predominantly paracytic. Abaxial epidermis not papillate. Abaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight, or gently undulating; conspicuously pitted in optical section, or not conspicuously pitted in optical section; staining normally with safranin.
Cytology, geography, etc. Basic chromosome number, x = 12. 2n = 24. 28 species. Tropical Africa. Not 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’.