The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae
The Genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees; without tendrils; unarmed. Leaves compound; pinnate; imparipinnate. Leaflets many per leaf; alternate; petiolulate; with petiolules not noticeably twisted. Stipules absent or early caducous or very inconspicuous. Stipels absent.
Inflorescence and floral morphology. Flowers hermaphrodite; not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx, in the corolla, and in the androecium; in simple racemes, or in fascicled inflorescences; not distichous. Inflorescences at older nodes or (rarely) axillary; of racemose units. Bracts absent at anthesis, or persistent beyond anthesis. Bracteoles present; small, not enclosing the flower buds; absent at anthesis. Hypanthium absent. Length of floral tube relative to total hypanthium plus calyx length, about 0.5. Calyx gamosepalous; covering the rest of the flower in bud; 3–5 partite; not imbricate; Swartzieae type (closed before flowering, splitting more or less irregularly into valvate lobes or teeth). Corolla absent. Disk present and conspicuous. Androecium of more than ten parts; with united members, or members all free of one another; members all more or less equal in length; without staminodia. Fertile stamens 26 (or more: numerous). Anthers attached at base of connective. Dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary stipitate; free. Ovules numerous.
Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit indehiscent; not winged. Seeds endospermic; not arillate; with an inflexed radicle; amyloid-negative; with starch. Cotyledons not flat.
Transverse section of lamina. Leaves without conspicuous phloem transfer cells in the minor veins. Druses absent from the mesophyll. Mesophyll secretory cavities (gland-dots) common; without a lining of epithelium. Adaxial hypodermis absent. Leaf girders absent. Laminae dorsiventral. Mesophyll without unaligned fibres or sclereids. Minor veins lacking accompanying fibrous tissue.
Leaf lamina epidermes. Epidermal crystals not seen either adaxially or abaxially. Simple unbranched hairs common; scabrid. 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; thin. Stomata adaxially very rare. Abaxial stomata not predominantly paracytic (anomcytic & cyclocytic). Abaxial epidermis papillate interveinally; with papillae over-arching the stomata. Abaxial interveinal epidermal cell walls straight, or gently undulating; conspicuously pitted in optical section; scarcely staining with safranin; thin.
Wood anatomy. Wood storied.
Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum punctate; rugulose punctate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance.
Cytology, geography, etc. Basic chromosome number, x = 10. 5 species. Southern and tropical Africa. 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’.