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; paripinnate. Leaflets many per leaf, or few per leaf; opposite or sub-opposite; with petiolules not noticeably twisted. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous; neither leafy nor spinescent. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers large; hermaphrodite; pentamerous; coloured; in panicles (elongated, the pedicels fascicled); not distichous. Inflorescences of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis. Bracteoles present; small, not enclosing the flower buds; absent at anthesis. Hypanthium present. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.75. Calyx gamosepalous; not covering the rest of the flower in bud; 5 partite; imbricate. Corolla present; slightly zygomorphic; polypetalous; without any greatly reduced petals. Petals red; 5; imbricate; imbricate-ascending. Clawed petals absent. Disk present and conspicuous. Androecium of ten parts; members all free of one another; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 10. Anthers attached well above base of connective. Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary stipitate. Stigma not peltate (the style filiform). Ovules numerous.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod; becoming distinctly woody; internally septate (obliquely so); not winged; without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds with a straight or slightly oblique radicle; amyloid-negative; with starch.
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 absent. Laminae dorsiventral. Mesophyll without unaligned fibres or sclereids. Minor veins mainly with abundant accompanying fibres.
Leaf lamina epidermes. Epidermal crystals present; prisms. Simple unbranched hairs not seen. No compound or branched eglandular hairs seen. Capitate glands not seen. Expanded and embedded hair-feet absent. Adaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight in optical section; conspicuously pitted; of medium thickness. Stomata adaxially very rare. Abaxial stomata predominantly paracytic. Abaxial epidermis papillate interveinally; with the papillae not over-arching the stomata. Abaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight, or gently undulating; conspicuously pitted in optical section; staining normally with safranin; of medium thickness.
Wood anatomy. Wood not storied. Intervascular pits very small, or medium to large.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum reticulate; strongly irregularly coarse-reticulate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance. Foot layer of pollen wall with obvious projections.
Cytology, geography, etc. 1 species. Africa. Tropical West Africa. 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’.