The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees; without tendrils; unarmed. Leaves compound; bifoliate; paripinnate. Venation palmate, parallel or fan-like. Leaflets few per leaf (two); markedly asymmetrical at the base; opposite or sub-opposite; very asymmetric. cf. Monopetalanthus, but here there is a flange of lamina beyond the very asymmetrically disposed ‘midrib’; sessile to sub-sessile. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout (calyx lacking or reduced to minute teeth); departing from pentamery in the calyx and in the corolla; in simple racemes (short, flowers crowded); not distichous. Inflorescences axillary; of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis (caducous, scarious). Bracteoles present (mucronulate); relatively large and enclosing the flower buds; persistent beyond anthesis; valvate. Hypanthium present. Calyx not covering the rest of the flower in bud. Corolla present; very zygomorphic; polypetalous; without any greatly reduced petals. Petals 1–2 (1 large obovate-cuneate petal, sometimes 1 lateral). Androecium of ten parts; with united members, or members all free of one another; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 10. Anthers attached well above base of connective. Ovary stipitate; free. Ovules few.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod; becoming distinctly woody; with prominent, raised veins; with veins other than the longitudinal ones predominating; conspicuously winged; valves twisting and enrolling during dehiscence. Seeds with a straight or slightly oblique radicle; amyloid-positive. Cotyledons epigeal.
Transverse section of lamina. Leaves with conspicuous phloem transfer cells in the minor veins. Druses common in the mesophyll. Mesophyll secretory cavities absent. Adaxial hypodermis absent. Leaf girders absent. 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 not seen. Expanded and embedded hair-feet present; (at least some of them) thin-walled; hair feet all simple, without vertical walls. Adaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls markedly sinuous in high-focus optical section; not conspicuously pitted; thin. Stomata adaxially very rare. Abaxial stomata predominantly paracytic. Abaxial epidermis not papillate. Abaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls markedly sinuous in high-focus optical section; not conspicuously pitted in optical section; staining normally with safranin; thin.
Cytology, geography, etc. 3 species. Tropical West 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’.