Eminia

Taxonomy

Eminia P.H.W. Taubert Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. 9: 29. 1891.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.29.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Glycininae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 5 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 2.3–2.8 cm long; 0.7–1 cm wide; 0.5 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; lanceolate, or linear; with both sutures nearly straight; not inflated; compressed; without beak, or with beak; straight, or declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base, or rounded 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 plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; tan to brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; sericeous; with pubescence golden, or white; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth; not veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating, or exfoliating in part (rarely); without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; 2-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; with vitriol layer over solid layer, or spongy layer over solid layer; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; mottled, or bichrome; white, or white and brown (over seed chambers); with mottling over seed chambers; with yellow overlay; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; subseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–2; length oblique to fruit length, or transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1.5–3 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight, or triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril and tongue-aril; entire; cream.

Seed: 8.5–9.5 mm long; 6.5–7.5 mm wide; 3–3.2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; irregularly reniform; compressed; 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; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; reddish brown; glabrous; not smooth; with recessed features, or recessed features and elevated features; wrinkled; pitted with small separate pits; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 1.3–1.5 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed; within halo; halo darker than testa. Lens discernible; 0.1–1 mm long; with margins curved; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; flush; similar color as testa; darker than testa; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm absent. 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; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; 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; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Southern tropical Africa.

Old World; Africa.

Generic Notes

Pauwels (1983) revised the genus accepting four species. We used his distribution and Lackey's (1981) species count.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Phaseoleae

Bruneau et al. (1995) carried out cladistic analyses of tribe Phaseoleae using chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Their results indicated that the tribe is not monophyletic and that the tribal delimitations between Phaseoleae and Desmodieae (11) and between Phaseoleae and Millettieae (7) are problematic.