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 simple. Stipules present, persistent and conspicuous.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx and in the androecium; coloured; in panicles (of racemes); not distichous. Inflorescences axillary, or terminal; of racemose units. Bracteoles present, or absent; small, not enclosing the flower buds; absent at anthesis, or persistent beyond anthesis; not valvate. Hypanthium absent. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 1. Calyx gamosepalous; covering the rest of the flower in bud; not imbricate; Swartzieae type (closed before flowering, splitting more or less irregularly into valvate lobes or teeth). Corolla present; slightly zygomorphic; polypetalous; without any greatly reduced petals. Petals yellow, or red; 5; imbricate; imbricate-descending (papilionaceous) with the posterior petal (vexillum) outside. Androecium of fewer than ten parts, or of ten parts, or of more than ten parts; members all free of one another; members all more or less equal in length; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 9–13. Anthers attached at base of connective. Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary sessile or subsessile, or stipitate; free. Ovules numerous.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod; not winged. Seeds non-endospermic; not arillate; with an inflexed 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 present. Leaf girders absent. 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; 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 absent. Adaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight in optical section; not conspicuously pitted; medium-thin. Stomata adaxially very rare. Abaxial stomata not predominantly paracytic (anomcytic to cyclocytic). Abaxial epidermis not papillate. Abaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight, or gently undulating; not conspicuously pitted in optical section; staining normally with safranin; medium-thin.
Wood anatomy. Wood storied.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum punctate; smooth punctate, or puncticulate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance, or less than one half pole to pole distance.
Cytology, geography, etc. 12 species. Central and tropical South America. Not widely cultivated.
Tribe. Swartzieae (Papilionoideae).
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: 22nd March 2009. http://delta-intkey.com’.