The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees, or climbers or scramblers; without tendrils; unarmed. Phyllotaxy spiral. Leaves compound, or simple (rare); pinnate, or rare; imparipinnate (by a rachis extension), or paripinnate. Venation neither palmate nor parallel nor fan-like. Leaflets many per leaf, or few per leaf; markedly asymmetrical at the base, or symmetrical or nearly so at their bases; alternate; without a continuous marginal nerve; petiolulate; with markedly twisted petiolules, or with petiolules not noticeably twisted. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous, or present, persistent and conspicuous. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers small; hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx and in the corolla, or in the corolla and in the androecium; white or green; in simple racemes; not distichous. Inflorescences terminal, or lateral on year-old branches; of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis, or persistent beyond anthesis. Bracteoles present; small, not enclosing the flower buds, or relatively large and enclosing the flower buds; absent at anthesis, or persistent beyond anthesis; not valvate; free. Hypanthium present. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.25 (rare), or 0.5. Calyx polysepalous; covering the rest of the flower in bud; more or less regular; 4 partite, or 5 partite (rare); imbricate; not Swartzieae type. Corolla absent (rarely with 1–3 vestiges). Disk absent. Androecium of fewer than ten parts (rare), or of ten parts; with united members, or members all free of one another; members all more or less equal in length, or members markedly unequal; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 5, or 8, or 10. Anthers attached well above base of connective. Dehiscence lateral; longitudinal. Ovary stipitate; free, or excentric with adnate stipe. Stigma not peltate (the style filiform). Ovules few, or numerous, or solitary.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod; becoming distinctly woody, or not becoming woody; with prominent, raised veins; with veins other than the longitudinal ones predominating; not winged; without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds non-endospermic; not arillate; with a straight or slightly oblique radicle; amyloid-positive. Cotyledons hypogeal.
Transverse section of lamina. Leaves with conspicuous phloem transfer cells in the minor veins. Druses common in the mesophyll, or absent from the mesophyll. Mesophyll secretory cavities absent. Adaxial hypodermis absent. Leaf girders common (the veins transcurrent). Laminae dorsiventral. Mesophyll exhibiting fibres or sclereids which are unaligned with the vascular bundles, or 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, or not seen; 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 present, or absent; (at least some of them) thin-walled; hair feet (at least some of them) complex with vertical walls. Basally bent hairs present. Adaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls markedly sinuous in high-focus optical section; conspicuously pitted, or not conspicuously pitted; medium-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 storied. Intervascular pits very small, or medium to large.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum striate; pole to pole striate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance.
Cytology, geography, etc. Basic chromosome number, x = 12. 2n = 24. 55 species. Tropics. Not widely cultivated.
Tribe. Detarieae.
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’.