The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees; without tendrils; unarmed. Leaves compound (petiole with a cupular gland); bipinnate; with opposite or sub-opposite pinnae. Venation neither palmate nor parallel nor fan-like. Leaflets many per leaf (very small, asymmetric and auriculate); sessile to sub-sessile. Stipules neither leafy nor spinescent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers small; hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx, or in the corolla (rare), or in the androecium; on year-old wood. Calyx gamosepalous; markedly zygomorphic; 4 partite; imbricate. Corolla present; slightly zygomorphic; polypetalous; without any greatly reduced petals. Petals 4 (rare), or 5, or 6 (rare); imbricate; imbricate-ascending. Clawed petals present. Disk present and conspicuous. Androecium of fewer than ten parts, or of ten parts; members all free of one another; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 8, or 10. Ovary stipitate. Ovules numerous.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit indehiscent; straight; not winged; without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds endospermic; with a straight or slightly oblique radicle.
Cytology, geography, etc. Madagascar. Not widely cultivated.
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’.