The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees, or shrubs; without tendrils; unarmed. Phyllotaxy spiral. Leaves simple. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous; neither leafy nor spinescent. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers small; hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx, in the corolla, and in the androecium; not distichous. Inflorescences axillary (or from older branches); of racemose units (racemes or umbels). Bracteoles present; small, not enclosing the flower buds; persistent beyond anthesis. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 1. Calyx gamosepalous; more or less regular, or markedly zygomorphic; 1–5 partite; not imbricate; Swartzieae type (closed before flowering, splitting more or less irregularly into valvate lobes or teeth). Corolla present; slightly zygomorphic; polypetalous; without any greatly reduced petals. Petals 6; imbricate; imbricate-descending (papilionaceous) with the posterior petal (vexillum) outside. Disk absent. Androecium of more than ten parts; members all free of one another; members markedly unequal; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 14–18. Anthers attached well above base of connective. Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary sessile or subsessile; free. Ovules few.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit not becoming woody; not winged; without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds non-endospermic; arillate; with an inflexed radicle; amyloid-negative.
Transverse section of lamina. Leaves without conspicuous phloem transfer cells in the minor veins. Druses 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. No compound or branched eglandular hairs seen. Capitate glands not seen. Expanded and embedded hair-feet absent. Adaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls markedly sinuous in high-focus 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 markedly sinuous in high-focus optical section; not conspicuously pitted in optical section; staining normally with safranin; medium-thick.
Cytology, geography, etc. 1 species. Tropical Africa. Not widely cultivated.
Tribe. Swartzieae (Papilionoideae).
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’.