Dalbergia

Taxonomy

Dalbergia C. Linnaeus f. Nom. cons. Suppl. 52, 316. Apr 1782.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.4.05.
Tribe: Dalbergieae.
Group: Dalbergia.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 47 studied; ca. 100 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.3–14.5 cm long; 1–3.5 cm wide; 0.1–0.6 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide, or length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight to curved (to slightly curved); not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; oblong, or lanceolate, or elliptic, or fusiform, or circular, or reniform, or falcate; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved, or both sutures unequally curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous, or coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose, or torulose; margin not constricted, or constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin embellished, or plain; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present, or absent; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 0.1–30 mm wide; wing(s) continuous wing around fruit; stipitate; with the stipe 10–30 mm long; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull, or glossy; monochrome; brown, or tan (reddish); with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; tomentose; with pubescence gray (assumed); with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; wrinkled (faintly), or verrucose-rugose; not exfoliating; without cracks, or with cracks (over seed chamber); without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; spongy; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp, or without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1(–4); length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; flattened; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 4–20 mm long; 2–11 mm wide; 2–2.3 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform, or oblong; compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between 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; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown (reddish); glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features, or recessed features; shagreen; punctate (scattered especially near hilar area); chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible, or visible; from hilum to lens (or lens not visible and terminating well before base of seed); not bifurcating; darker than testa; black; raised. Hilum present; fully concealed, or visible; concealed by funicular remnant; with faboid split, or without faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split lighter colored than the rest of the hilum and therefore conspicuous; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; raised; not within corona, halo, or rim, or within halo; halo lighter than testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; with margins curved; circular, or elliptic; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.1–2 mm from hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa. 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; not concealing radicle; with lobes; with lobes not touching; without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan, or green (yellowish); inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip curved, or hooked; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed, or rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Pantropical.

New World, or Old World; pantropical; West Indies to Mexico to United States to Central America to South America; Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas; Africa to Madagascar to Southwest Asia to India to Indochina to China to Australia to Indonesia and the Philippines to Fiji.

Generic Notes

Hoehne (1941) reported on the 42 species of Dalbergia that he recognized in Brazil, and Carvalho (1997) reviewed Brazilian Dalbergia accepting just 41 species of which three were newly described by him. Cronquist (1954) treated Dalbergia in the Congo, and Sunarno and Ohashi (1997) treated the 21 species of Borneo, including four new ones. The seeds of Dalbergia are difficult to score for raphe and lens characters. Some seeds have a black mark on the reddish-brown testae, confluent with the hilum which may represent a raphe or a lens. If a raphe, then it does not go to the end of the seeds, and if a lens, then it is atypical in shape and thickness.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Dalbergieae

Lima (1989) analyzed the morphological characters of fruits, seeds and seedlings of the tribe and his characters and illustrations were used as a much appreciated source of accurate data. He also discussed the phylogeny of the tribe. Sousa and Sousa (1981) provided data to support their conclusion that the New World Lonchocarpinae be considered for tribal status: A segregate of the Dalbergieae. Hauman (1954) provided data on the Dalbergieae of Central Africa, and Lock (1989) listed the Dalbergieae for all of Africa. Thothathri (1986) reviewed the taxonomic status and systematic position of Asiatic Dalbergieae, and monographed tribe Dalbergieae for the Indian subcontinent (Thothathri, 1987). Morphological (Lima 1989) and molecular (Doyle et al. 1997) evidence has indicated that tribe Dalbergieae is polyphyletic.