Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.23.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Baphia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 3 studied; 6 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.5–5.5 cm long; 1.2–2.5 cm wide; 0.8–1.8 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width, or 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx, or persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight to curved (or slightly curved); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; harp-shaped, or oblong, or ovate, or irregular; with both sutures unequally curved, or both sutures parallelly curved, or 1 straight and 1 curved suture (nearly); widest near middle or D-shaped; inflated, or not inflated; terete; with beak; straight, or hooked; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex, or rounded at apex, or emarginate at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base, or short tapered at base, or rounded at base, or truncate at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished, or plain; margin with thickened sutural areas; wing(s) absent; stipitate, or substipitate; with the stipe 1–5 mm long; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures, or 1 suture (and somtimes partially along the other); apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull (or obscured by dense pubescence); monochrome, or multicolored; mottled; tan to brown (reddish), or green, or orange; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrate, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; strigose, or velutinous; with pubescence brown, or white; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; transversely veined relative to fruit length, or reticulately veined; not tuberculate; dotted; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered, or 2-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid, or fleshy; with solid layer over spongy layer; chartaceous, or coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome to mottled (slightly), or streaked; reddish tan to tan to brown, or yellow; with mottling more or less uniform (dark); with brown overlay, or tan overlay (over seed chambers); scurfy, or veined, or cracked and hairy; without adhering pieces of testa; with hairs scattered over endocarp; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–2(–4); length parallel with fruit length to oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1–3 mm long; of 1 length only; thick, or partially filiform and partially thick; straight to triangular, or contorted. Aril present; fleshy; when fleshy scurfy or thick and marginal hilar, or annular, or hippocrepiform rim-aril (wide); fimbriate, or laciniate, or crenate; covering less than 1/2 of seed; ivory, or olive, or tan, or yellow (creamy).
Seed: (8–)11–20 mm long; 7–15 mm wide; 5–10 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; elliptic to circular to bilobed, cicerlike (or slightly bilobed); compressed to terete (or subterete); with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Cuticle not exfoliating; not inflated; not wrinkled. Testa present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or streaked, or bichrome; with infrequent streaks; reddish to purplish black, or red and black (reddish to purplish), or red, or brown; with black overlay; glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; wrinkled; coriaceous (to subcoriaceous), or chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent, or present; irregular. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible, or visible; from hilum through lens to base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; color of testa, or lighter than testa, or darker than testa; reddish to purplish black; slightly raised. Hilum present; partially concealed, or fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant, or aril, or funicular remnant and aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 2.5–6 mm long; with curved outline, or straight outline; elliptic; oblong; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed, or flush; within corona, or not within corona, halo, or rim; corona color darker than testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; 2–4 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum, or adjacent to hilum; ca. 1 mm from hilum; slightly mounded or mounded, or flush; similar color as testa, or same color as testa; darker than testa; black, or brown, or red (dark); not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm absent. Cotyledons smooth, or not smooth; slightly wrinkled; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness, or one thicker than the other (slightly); both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle, or not entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; completely concealing radicle, or partially concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; with margin(s) recessed; with 1 margin recessed, or both margins recessed; recessed on same side as hilum (terminal radicle); tan, or yellow; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight; parallel to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; triangular, or bulbose; lobe tip straight; straight with embryonic axis; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
Brummitt (1968) discussed the delimitations and relationships of Baphiastrum H.A.T. Harms and Bowringia J.G. Champion ex G. Benthem, and Hall (1974) keyed the four Bowringia species. Polhill (1981b) noted that Leucomphalos radicles resemble those of Bowringia. Brummitt (1968) also commented on Leucomphalos. Bretelar (1994) reexamined Baphiastrum, Bowringia, and Leucomphalos, and concluded that the three are synonymous and that Leucomphalos is the oldest name and must be used for the genus. He (Bretelar, 1994) revised the genus, and his species count and distrbution are used. Leucomphalos and Baphiastrum differed by the following fruit and seed characerts, respectively: fruit 2.5–3.5 versus 1.8–2 cm long, inflated versus not inflated, short tapered versus emarginate or rounded at apex, tapered versus rounded or truncate at base, and margin embellished versus plain; stipe 3.8–6.5 versus 1.5–2.6 mm long; epicarp white strigose versus brown velutinous and 1-layered versus 2-layered; funiculus straight versus contorted; aril yellow marginal hilar versus olive annular or hippocrepiform rim-aril; seed 13.5–20 versus 11–12 mm long; testa coriaceous versus chartaceous and without versus with fracture lines; cotyledons margin entire or not entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; and radicle bulbose versus triangular. Leucomphalos and Bowringia differed by the following fruit and seed characerts, respectively: epicarp solid versus fleshy; mesocarp solid versus fleshy and ciriaceous versus chartaceous; aril fimbriate versus crenate or lacinate and yellow versus ivory, olive, or tan; hilum not within corona versus within a corona; and radicle bulbose versus triangular.
Tribe Sophoreae
Polhill (1981b) stated that the Sophoreae s.l. is a tribe of convenience between the Caesalpinioideae and the bulk of the Papilionoideae, sharply defined from neither. He transferred four genera from Sophoreae into the Swartzieae (1), Amburana (3.1.15), Ateleia (3.1.13), Cyathostegia (3.1.14), and Holocalyx (3.1.12), following Herendeen's (1995) cladistic analyses. Herendeen performed cladistic analyses for all Swartzieae genera, sensu Cowan (1981), 19 Sophoreae genera, and three Caesalpinioideae genera. He concluded that Swartzieae is polyphyletic and that it should be disbanded and its genera transferred to Sophoreae. Preliminary rbcL data (Doyle et al. 1997) supported his conclusions.
Authors: J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, A.L. Weitzman, M.J. Dallwitz, K.R. Thiele
Content last updated April 2003
Released April 2024 on idtools.org
