Zenia

Taxonomy

Zenia W.Y. Chun Sunyatsenia 6: 195. Nov 1946.

Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 1.2.02.
Tribe: Cassieae.
Subtribe: Dialiinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legumelegume:
usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal sutures
; unilocular; 9–15 cm long; 2.5–4 cm wide; 0.2 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; elliptic, or oblong; not inflated; flattened; without beak; long tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned 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; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 0.1–1 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture (ventral); substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; surface not veined; 1-layered (?); without balsamic vesicles; with fibers; without reniform canals; spongy; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 4; length oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–3 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; S-curved. Aril absent.

Seed: 5–9 mm long; 4.5–7 mm wide; 2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; circular, or D-shaped; flattened; 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; reddish to greenish brown; glabrous; smooth; osseous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines present; longitudinal, or reticulate. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible (darker than testa and extending from hilum to lens). Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; without faboid split; punctiform; apical at apex of radicle tip; slightly recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; on antiraphe side 170 degrees from hilum 0.1–1 mm long; with margins curved; nearly circular; not in groove of raphe; slightly recessed; same color as testa; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; adnate to embryo. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; partially concealing radicle; with lobes; with lobes not touching; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; 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; centered between cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Thailand and southeast China (Kwangsi).

Old World; Indochina and China (Thailand and China (Kwangsi)).

Generic Notes

Fruit data were recorded from the protolog (Chun, 1946). He did not record endocarp data, seed location data, and some funicular data. Seeds were supplied by Y (pers. commun., 1983).