The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
| The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees, or shrubs; without tendrils; unarmed. Phyllotaxy distichous, or spiral. Leaves compound, or simple (rare); pinnate, or bifoliate; paripinnate. Venation neither palmate nor parallel nor fan-like. Leaflets few per leaf; opposite or sub-opposite; without a continuous marginal nerve; petiolulate, or sessile to sub-sessile; with markedly twisted petiolules, or with petiolules not noticeably twisted. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous; not connate (intrapetiolar, joined at base). Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers small; hermaphrodite; pentamerous, or not pentamerous throughout (rare); departing from pentamery in the calyx and in the androecium (rare); white or green, or coloured; in simple racemes and in fascicled inflorescences; not distichous. Inflorescences variously disposed, sometimes on trunk or branches; of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis. Bracteoles present, or absent; small, not enclosing the flower buds, or relatively large and enclosing the flower buds (coloured); absent at anthesis, or persistent beyond anthesis (rare); not valvate; free. Hypanthium present. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.25. Calyx gamosepalous (shortly); covering the rest of the flower in bud; more or less regular; 4–5 partite; imbricate. Corolla present; actinomorphic, or slightly zygomorphic, or very zygomorphic; polypetalous; including greatly reduced petals, or without any greatly reduced petals. Petals white; 5; imbricate; imbricate-ascending. Clawed petals absent. Disk absent. Androecium of ten parts, or of more than ten parts (rare); with united members (rare), or members all free of one another; members markedly unequal; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 8–9 (rare), or 10, or 11–12 (rare). Anthers attached well above base of connective (but sagittate below). Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary stipitate; free, or excentric with adnate stipe (hardly). Ovules few, or solitary.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod, or indehiscent; not becoming woody; straight (rare), or curved; not winged; valves twisting and enrolling during dehiscence, or without markedly twisting or enrolling valves. Seeds non-endospermic; with a straight or slightly oblique radicle; amyloid-positive. Cotyledons not flat; of Type 4; with a vascular system ramified throughout; epigeal.
Transverse section of lamina. Leaves with conspicuous phloem transfer cells in the minor veins. Druses absent from the mesophyll. Mesophyll secretory cavities (gland-dots) common, or absent; epithelium-lined. Adaxial hypodermis absent. Leaf girders absent. Laminae dorsiventral. Mesophyll exhibiting fibres or sclereids which are unaligned with the vascular bundles. Minor veins mainly with abundant accompanying fibres.
Leaf lamina epidermes. Epidermal crystals not seen either adaxially or abaxially. 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 markedly sinuous in high-focus optical section; conspicuously pitted, or not conspicuously pitted; of medium thickness. Stomata adaxially very rare. Abaxial stomata predominantly paracytic. Abaxial epidermis not papillate. Abaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight, or gently undulating; not conspicuously pitted in optical section; staining normally with safranin; of medium thickness.
Wood anatomy. Wood with septate fibres, or without septate fibres; storied, or not storied; without normal intercellular canals; without traumatic canals. Intervascular pits very small.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum reticulate, or striate; rugulose reticulate; interwoven striate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance.
Cytology, geography, etc. About 70 species. Tropics. 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’.