The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees; without tendrils; unarmed. Phyllotaxy spiral. Leaves compound; pinnate; imparipinnate; with adaxially grooved rachides. Leaflets many per leaf, or few per leaf; opposite or sub-opposite; petiolulate; with petiolules not noticeably twisted. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous; neither leafy nor spinescent. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers hermaphrodite; pentamerous, or not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the androecium; coloured; in panicles; not distichous. Inflorescences terminal; of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis. Bracteoles present (minute); small, not enclosing the flower buds; absent at anthesis. Hypanthium present. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.5. Calyx polysepalous; not covering the rest of the flower in bud; more or less regular; 5 partite; imbricate. Corolla present; slightly zygomorphic; polypetalous; without any greatly reduced petals. Petals yellow, or red; 5; imbricate; imbricate-ascending. Androecium of more than ten parts; members all free of one another; members all more or less equal in length; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 15–25. Anthers attached well above base of connective. Dehiscence introrse; longitudinal. Ovary stipitate; free. Ovules numerous.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod (large); becoming distinctly woody; curved; not winged; without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds non-endospermic; not arillate; with a straight or slightly oblique radicle; amyloid-negative. Cotyledons of Type 4; with a vascular system in one plane.
Transverse section of lamina. 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. 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. 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.
Wood anatomy. Wood not storied.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum punctate; rugulose punctate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance (without a margocolpus).
Cytology, geography, etc. 3 species. South and Central America. Tropical America. Not widely cultivated.
Tribe. Caesalpinieae.
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’.