The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees (branchlets consisting of cladodes, with gland-like scales); without tendrils; unarmed. Phyllotaxy ‘alternate’. Leaves compound; bifoliate. Venation palmate, parallel or fan-like. Leaflets few per leaf (two). Never having bipinnate leaves with short, spine-tipped rachides and flattened pinnae. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous (minute); neither leafy nor spinescent. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout (though the staminodes could be mistaken for petals); departing from pentamery in the corolla. Inflorescences axillary (flowers in short axillary spiciform clusters). Bracts minute. Bracteoles present (minute); small, not enclosing the flower buds; not valvate; free. Calyx gamosepalous (campanulate, with minute scales outside); more or less regular; 5 partite; not imbricate (valvate). Corolla absent. Androecium of ten parts (provided the staminodes are not interpreted as ‘petals’); members all free of one another (the fertile stamens opposite the petaloid staminodes); with staminodia (5, petaloid). Fertile stamens 5. Anthers attached well above base of connective (medifixed, versatile). Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary sessile or subsessile; free. Stigma not peltate (capitate, sessile). Ovules few (two).
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit indehiscent (probably); flat, compressed, elliptic- orbicular; straight; not winged. Seeds arillate (with a crescentic hilum, cf. Bauhinia); with a straight or slightly oblique radicle. Cotyledons flat (thick).
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum reticulate.
Cytology, geography, etc. 1 species. Madagascar. Madagascar. Not widely cultivated.
Tribe. Cercideae.
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’.