The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Including Barklya F. Muell., Bracteolanthus de Witt, Gigasiphon (Drake) Harms, Lasiobema (Korth.) Miq., Lysiphyllum (Benth.) de Witt, Phanera Lour., Piliostigma Hochst., Pauletia Cav., Amaria Mutis, Casparia Kunth, Perlebia Spix and Mart., Cansenia Raf., Monoteles Raf., Telestria Raf., Alvesia Welw., Ariaria Marq., Caspariopsis Britton and Rose, Elayuna Raf., Locellaria Wellw., Schnella Raddi, Lacara Spreng., Caulotretus Rich. ex Schott, Binaria Raf., Cardenasia Rusby, Tournaya Schmitz
Habit and leaf form. Trees, or shrubs, or climbers or scramblers (Phanera group); with tendrils (Phanera group), or without tendrils; armed (with intrastipular spines), or unarmed. Phyllotaxy distichous, or spiral. Leaves compound, or simple, or two-lobed; bifoliate (when compound); paripinnate. Venation palmate, parallel or fan-like. Leaflets few per leaf (two). Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous, or present, persistent and conspicuous; leafy, or spinescent, or neither leafy nor spinescent; not connate. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers large, or showy; hermaphrodite, or unisexual; pentamerous (e.g., Piliostigma group), or not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx, or in the corolla, or in the androecium (or any combination); white or green, or coloured; in simple racemes, or in simple corymbs, or in fascicled inflorescences, or in panicles; not distichous. Inflorescences axillary, or terminal (sometimes cauliflorous); of racemose units, or of solitary flowers. Bracts absent at anthesis, or persistent beyond anthesis. Bracteoles present, or absent; small, not enclosing the flower buds, or relatively large and enclosing the flower buds (e.g., Bracteolanthus); absent at anthesis, or persistent beyond anthesis; not valvate; free. Hypanthium present (often greatly elongated, but sometimes nearly absent). Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.2–0.8. Calyx gamosepalous (spathaceous, or dividing to mouth of hypanthium into 2–5 lobes; or irregularly lobed above); covering the rest of the flower in bud, or not covering the rest of the flower in bud; markedly zygomorphic; 1 partite (spathaceous), or 2–5 partite (with lobes or teeth, sometimes irregular); imbricate, or not imbricate; Swartzieae type (closed before flowering, splitting more or less irregularly into valvate lobes or teeth), or not Swartzieae type. Corolla present; slightly zygomorphic to very zygomorphic; polypetalous; without any greatly reduced petals. Petals white, or yellow, or red; 5 ((2-)5(-6)); imbricate; imbricate-ascending. Clawed petals present, or absent. Disk present and conspicuous, or absent. Androecium of fewer than ten parts, or of ten parts; with united members, or members all free of one another; members markedly unequal; with staminodia, or without staminodia. Fertile stamens 1–10. Anthers attached at base of connective (sagittate), or attached well above base of connective (dorsifixed). Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary stipitate; free, or excentric with adnate stipe. Stigma peltate (Piliostigma), or not peltate. Ovules few, or numerous.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod, or indehiscent; becoming distinctly woody, or not becoming woody; straight, or curved; not winged; without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds endospermic, or non-endospermic; arillate (the hilum crescentic); with a straight or slightly oblique radicle, or with an inflexed radicle (Barklya); amyloid-negative. Cotyledons flat; of Type 2, or Type 4; with a vascular system in one plane.
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; scabrid, or 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 absent. Basally bent hairs present. Adaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight in optical section, or markedly sinuous in high-focus optical section; conspicuously pitted, or not conspicuously pitted. Stomata adaxially common and widespread, or 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; scarcely staining with safranin, or staining normally with safranin.
Wood anatomy. Wood with septate fibres; storied, or not storied; without normal intercellular canals; without traumatic canals. Intervascular pits very small.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum reticulate, or striate; finely to moderately regularly reticulate, or rugulose reticulate, or verrucose reticulate; reticulate striate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance, or less than one half pole to pole distance.
Cytology, geography, etc. Basic chromosome number, x = 12, 13, and 14. 2n = 24, or 26, or 28, or 42, or 56. About 250 species. In warm regions. Widely cultivated.
Tribe. Cercideae.
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’.