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 spiral. Leaves compound; pinnate; paripinnate. Leaflets many per leaf; symmetrical or nearly so at their bases; opposite or sub-opposite, or alternate (rare); without a continuous marginal nerve; petiolulate; with petiolules not noticeably twisted. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous; neither leafy nor spinescent; not connate (intrapetiolar, enfolding bud). Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx; coloured; in panicles (of racemes); not distichous. Inflorescences terminal; of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis. Bracteoles present; relatively large and enclosing the flower buds; absent at anthesis, or persistent beyond anthesis; not valvate. Hypanthium present. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.25. Calyx polysepalous; covering the rest of the flower in bud, or not covering the rest of the flower in bud; more or less regular; 4 partite (deciduous); imbricate; not Swartzieae type. Corolla present; very zygomorphic; polypetalous; including greatly reduced petals. Petals 5; imbricate; imbricate-ascending. Clawed petals absent. Disk absent. Androecium of ten parts; with united members, or members all free of one another; members all more or less equal in length; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 10. Anthers attached well above base of connective. Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary stipitate; excentric with adnate stipe. Ovules numerous.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod; not becoming woody; curved; without prominent raised veins; not winged; valves twisting and enrolling during dehiscence. Seeds non-endospermic; arillate (with cupular aril and long funicle); with a straight or slightly oblique radicle; amyloid-positive. Cotyledons flat; of Type 4; with a vascular system in one plane; epigeal.
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 (gland-dots) common; epithelium-lined. 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, or druses. Simple unbranched hairs common, or not seen. 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 straight in optical section; conspicuously pitted, or not conspicuously pitted; thick. Stomata adaxially very rare. Abaxial stomata predominantly paracytic. Abaxial epidermis not papillate. Abaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight, or gently undulating; conspicuously pitted in optical section; staining normally with safranin; thick.
Wood anatomy. Wood without septate fibres; storied; with normal intercellular canals; without traumatic canals. Intervascular pits medium to large.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum punctate; rugulose punctate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance.
Cytology, geography, etc. Basic chromosome number, x = 11. 2n = 22. 9 species. Tropical West Africa. 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’.