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Caesalpinioideae

(Subfamily)

Overview

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Caesalpinioideae is a at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name Caesalpinia.

The Caesalpinioideae are mainly trees distributed in the moist tropics. Their flowers are zygomorphic, but are very variable. Nodulation is rare in this subfamily, and where it does occur nodules have a primitive structure.

Because the Papilionoideae and Mimosoideae arose from within the Caesalpinioideae,1] the Caesalpinioideae is paraphyletic. Therefore, it is likely to be split into several subfamilies, although it is not yet clear what those subfamilies should be.[1]

In some classifications, for example the Cronquist system, the group is recognized at the rank of family, Caesalpiniaceae.

The genera may be classified in four tribes, Caesalpinieae, Cassieae, Cercideae and Detarieae. The tribe Cercideae has sometimes been included in the subfamily Faboideae (aka Papilionoideae) in the past.

Tribe Caesalpinieae

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Tribe Cassieae

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Tribe Cercideae

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Tribe detarieae

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About 81 genera of predominantly African distribution. See main article for details.

Photos

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Taxonomy

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The Subfamily Caesalpinioideae is a member of the Family Fabaceae. Here is the complete "parentage" of Caesalpinioideae:

The Subfamily Caesalpinioideae is further organized into finer groupings including:

Genera

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Afzelia

Afzelia is a in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the family Fabaceae (legumes). The thirteen species all are trees, native to tropical Africa or Asia. [more]

Amherstia

The Pride of Burma (Amherstia nobilis in the ) is a tropical tree with exceptionally beautiful flowers (it is also known as the Orchid Tree, a name otherwise reserved for members of the genus Bauhinia). Its name in Burmese is thawka-gyi. It is widely cultivated for ornament in the humid tropics. [more]

Apuleia

[more]

Arapatiella

Arapatiella is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Asarum

Herbs, perennial, deciduous, rhizomatous, without aerial stems. Leaves alternate (sometimes appearing opposite because of crowding), 2-ranked; stipules absent; petiolate foliage leaves and sessile, triangular scale-leaves both present. Leaf blade membranous or leathery, pubescent at least abaxially and on margins. Inflorescences terminal on rhizome, flowers solitary; bracts absent. Flowers: sepals distinct, usually mixture of white, green, tan, red, or purple, proximally touching valvately and forming well-defined false tube, externally usually villous, inner surface strigose, smooth or with weak longitudinal ribs, never with network of low ridges; vestigial petals present or absent; stamens 12, distinct; filaments longer than pollen sacs; terminal appendage of anther well developed; ovary inferior, 6-locular; styles connate in column. Capsule fleshy, dehiscence irregular. Seeds ovoid, not winged, with fleshy appendage. x = 13.[1] [more]

Balsamocarpon

[more]

Batesia

[more]

Bauhinia

Trees, shrubs or climbers. Leaves alternate, simple, usually consisting of two lobes or almost bifoliolate with midrib between the two leaflets produced as a small spur. Flowers are showy, arranged in simple or panicled, terminal or axillary racemes. Hypanthium sometimes long and cylindrical, sometimes short and turbinate. Calyx entire or spathaceous, or cleft into two or five teeth. Petals 5, slightly unequal, narrowed at the base into a claw, variously coloured. Stamens 10, or reduced to 5 or there, filaments free or shortly connate, filiform, anthers versatile, Dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary seated on a stalk (gynophore), ovules many, style long or short and usually curved, stigma capitate, fruit a linear pod, dehiscent or indehiscent.[2] [more]

Bidens

Annuals or perennials [shrubs, vines], 5400 cm. Stems usually 1, usually erect, (terete or 4-angled, often striate or sulcate) branched distally or ± throughout. Leaves usually cauline; usually opposite, rarely whorled, distal sometimes alternate; petiolate or sessile; blades simple, compound (leaflets petiolulate), or 13+-pinnatisect or -pinnately lobed (submerged leaves multifid in B. beckii, an aquatic), ultimate margins entire, dentate, laciniate, serrate, or toothed, faces usually glabrous, sometimes hirtellous, hispidulous, pilosulous, puberulent, scabrellous, or strigillose. Heads usually radiate or discoid, sometimes ± disciform, usually in corymbiform arrays, sometimes in 2s or 3s or borne singly. Calyculi of (3) 513(21+) erect to spreading or reflexed, ± herbaceous (sometimes foliaceous) bractlets or bracts (sometimes surpassing phyllaries). Involucres mostly hemispheric or campanulate to cylindric, (1) 412(25+) mm diam. Phyllaries persistent, mostly (4) 821(30+) in ± 2 series, usually distinct, sometimes connate 0.050.1 their lengths, mostly oblong or ovate to lance-oblong, chartaceous to membranous or scarious (usually striate with brownish nerves, margins usually hyaline). Receptacles flat or slightly convex, paleate; paleae usually falling, (usually stramineous, sometimes yellow to orange, with darker striae) ± flat to slightly navicular. Ray florets usually 121+ (often 3, 5, 8, or 13), sometimes 0, usually neuter, sometimes styliferous and sterile; corollas usually yellow, sometimes white or pinkish. Disc florets (5) 1260(150+), bisexual, fertile; corollas usually yellow to orange, sometimes whitish [purplish], tubes shorter than throats, lobes (3) 5, ± deltate (staminal filaments glabrous; style-branch appendages deltate or lanceolate to subulate). Cypselae usually obcompressed to flat, unequally 34-angled, and cuneate to oblanceolate or obovate, sometimes (all or inner) ± equally 4-angled and linear-fusiform, rarely subterete, margins (± corky-winged in B. aristosa, B. cernua, and B. polylepis) usually retrorsely, sometimes patently or antrorsely, barbed or ciliate, apices sometimes attenuate, not beaked [beaked], faces smooth, striate, or ± tuberculate, glabrous or hairy, each sometimes with 2 grooves; pappi 0, or persistent, of (1) 24(8) usually retrorsely, sometimes antrorsely, barbellate or ciliate, rarely smooth, awns. x = 13.[3] [more]

Brodriguesia

[more]

Brownea

Brownea is a genus of about 30 species in the family , subfamily Caesalpinioideae. The genus is native to tropical regions of the Americas. The species are shrubs and trees growing to 20 m tall. [more]

Burmeistera

Burmeistera is a genus in the family Campanulaceae. [more]

Caesalpinia

Trees, shrubs and woody climbers. Leaves large, bipinnate. Flowers yellow or red, often showy. Racemes paniculate, in the upper leaf axils or terminal. Calyx teeth 5, imbricate in the bud, the lowest outside. Petals orbicular, clawed, imbricate. Stamens 10, free. Ovary sessile, usually few ovuled. Pod various, sometimes covered with spines.[4] [more]

Campsiandra

[more]

Cassia

Trees, shrubs, herbs. Leaf paripinnate or rarely reduced to phyllode; stipules of various shapes, petiolar glands often present. Inflorescence axillary or terminal raceme, terminal panicle or flowers subsolitary axillary; bracts and bracteoles variable. Calyx 5, imbricate, tube short. Petals 5, imbricate, subequal or lowermost larger. Stamens 10, all perfect or subequal or the upper ones smaller or imperfect or only 5 stamens; anthers uniform or upper ones smaller, dehiscing by an apical pore or short slit. Ovary sessile or stipitate, ovules numerous, style with terminal stigma. Fruit variable, terete or compressed, membranous or woody, often 2 valved, sometimes indehiscent, rarely winged lengthwise. Seeds mostly compressed, endospermous.[5] [more]

Cenostigma

[more]

Ceratonia

Ceratonia is the name of a of trees, endemic to the Mediterranean region. It is of the family Fabaceae and subfamily Caesalpinioideae. [more]

Cercidium

Parkinsonia ( Cercidium) is a genus of about 12 species of in the family Fabaceae, native to semi-desert regions of Africa and the Americas. [more]

Cercis

Cercis, or Redbuds, is a genus of about 6-10 species in the subfamily of the pea family Fabaceae, native to warm-temperate regions. They are small deciduous trees or large shrubs, characterised by simple, rounded to heart-shaped leaves and pinkish-red flowers borne in the early spring on bare leafless shoots. [more]

Cercocarpus

Cercocarpus, commonly known as the Mountain-mahogany, is a small genus of five or six species of shrubs or small trees in the rose family (Rosaceae), native to the western United States and northern Mexico, where they grow in semi-desert climates, often at high altitudes. They typically reach 3–6 m tall, but exceptionally up to 13 m tall. [more]

Chamaecrista

Chamaecrista (sensitive pea ) is the name of a of legumes. Specifically, within the legumes it is in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Several species are capable of rapid plant movement. [more]

Colvillea

Colvillea is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It is named for Sir Charles Colville, an ex Governor of Mauritius. It contains the following species: [more]

Copaifera

Copaifera is a of plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. [more]

Crudia

Crudia is a of legume in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Cryptosepalum

Cryptosepalum is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Cynometra

Cynometra is genus of tropical forest trees with a pantropical distribution. It is particularly important as a forest component in west and the neotropics. Cynometra alexandri (muhimbi) is a familiar timber tree of central and east Africa. The genus is a member of the sub-family Caesalpinioideae. [more]

Daniellia

Daniellia is a genus of in the Fabaceae family, named after William Freeman Daniell. It contains the following species: [more]

Delonix

The Delonix forms part of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The members of the genus are flowering trees, native to Madagascar and east Africa. By far the best known in the Royal Poinciana, Delonix regia. [more]

Dialium

Dialium is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Dicorynia

[more]

Dicymbe

[more]

Dimorphandra

Dimorphandra is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Diptychandra

[more]

Elizabetha

[more]

Eperua

[more]

Erythrophleum

Erythrophleum is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. A partial list of species includes: [more]

Gleditsia

Gleditsia is a of locust trees in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae, native to North America and Asia. The Latin name commemorates Gottlieb Gleditsch, director of the Berlin Botanical Gardens, who died in 1786. [more]

Goniorrhachis

[more]

Guibourtia

Guibourtia is a genus in the family Fabaceae (legume family). It contains 16 species, native to tropical regions of Africa (13 species) and South America (3 species). They occur in swampy or periodically inundated forests, as well as near rivers or at lakeshores. [more]

Gymnocladus

Gymnocladus is a small genus of . [more]

Haematoxylum

[more]

Heterostemon

[more]

Hoffmannseggia

[more]

Humboldtia

Humboldtia is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Hymenaea

Hymenaea is a genus in the family Fabaceae (legume family). Of fourteen living plant species in the genus, all but one are native to the tropics of the Americas, with one additional species (Hymenaea verrucosa) on the east coast of Africa. The genus is distributed through the Caribbean islands, and from southern Mexico to Brazil. In Colombia the trees are called algarrobo, and in Peru azúcar huayo. The Brazilian name is jatobá. [more]

Intsia

Intsia is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Koompassia

Koompassia is a of legume in the Fabaceae family occurring in southeast Asia. They are tall tropical rainforest trees; K. excelsa is one of the tallest tree species in the tropics. The genus contains the following three species: [more]

Labichea

[more]

Lemuropisum

[more]

Lophocarpinia

[more]

Macrolobium

Macrolobium is a genus in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. [more]

Maniltoa

Maniltoa is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Martiodendron

[more]

Microberlinia

Microberlinia is a in the family Fabaceae (legume family). It includes two species of tree native to Cameroon and Gabon in West Africa. The common name is zingana or zebrawood. [more]

Moldenhawera

[more]

Mora

A Genus in the Kingdom Animalia. [more]

Paleacrita

[more]

Parkinsonia

Parkinsonia ( Cercidium) is a genus of about 12 species of in the family Fabaceae, native to semi-desert regions of Africa and the Americas. [more]

Pellegriniodendron

Pellegriniodendron is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Peltogyne

Purpleheart (Peltogyne) is a genus of 23 species of in the family Fabaceae, native to tropical regions of Central and South America, where they occur in tropical rainforest. [more]

Peltophorum

Peltophorum is a genus of between 5–15 species of in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. The genus is native to tropical regions across the world. The species are medium-sized to large trees growing up to 15-25 m (rarely 50 m) tall. [more]

Petalostylis

[more]

Pineus

Pinnes (also Pinneus or Pineus) (d. 217 BC) was the son of , king of Illyria, and Agron's first wife Triteuta. He officially succeeded his father as king in 230 BC, but the kingdom was ruled by Agron's second wife, Queen Teuta. [more]

Poeppigia

[more]

Prioria

[more]

Pterogyne

Pterogyne is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Pterolobium

[more]

Saraca

Saraca is a genus in the family Fabaceae (legume family) of about seventy plant species of tree native to the lands from India, China and Ceylon to Malaysia and Celebes. [more]

Schizolobium

[more]

Schotia

[more]

Scorodophloeus

[more]

Senna

[more]

Sindora

Sindora is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Stahlia

Stahlia is a genus of legume in the Fabaceae family, containing the single species Stahlia monosperma (Cóbana Negra or Cóbana Polisandro). [more]

Tachigali

Tachigali is a genus in the legume family (Fabaceae). [more]

Tamarindus

The Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) (from the Arabic: ??? ???? tamar hindi = Indian date) is a in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic (having only a single species). It is a tropical tree, native to tropical Africa, including Sudan and parts of the Madagascar dry deciduous forests. It was introduced into India so long ago that it has often been reported as indigenous there, and it was apparently from India that it reached the Persians and the Arabs who called it "tamar hindi" (Indian date, from the date-like appearance of the dried pulp), giving rise to both its common and generic names. However, the specific name, "indica", also perpetuates the illusion of Indian origin. The fruit was well known to the ancient Egyptians and to the Greeks in the 4th Century B.C.E. [more]

Tessmannia

Tessmannia is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Tetraberlinia

Tetraberlinia is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Tylosema

The Tylosema is in the plant family Fabaceae. [more]

Vouacapoua

Vouacapoua is a genus of in the Fabaceae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Zenkerella

A Genus in the Kingdom Animalia. [more]

Zuccagnia

[more]

At least 6 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Zuccagnia.

More info about the Genus Zuccagnia may be found here.

References

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  1. ^ a b Martin F. Wojciechowski, Johanna Mahn, and Bruce Jones (2006). "Fabaceae". The Tree of Life Web Project.

Bibliography

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Footnotes

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  1. Alan T. Whittemore, Michael R. Mesler & Karen L. Lu "Asarum". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  2. "Bauhinia". in Flora of Pakistan . Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  3. John L. Strother, Ronald R. Weedon "Bidens". in Flora of North America Vol. 21 Page 184, 185, 205, 206. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  4. "Caesalpinia". in Flora of Pakistan . Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  5. "Cassia". in Flora of Pakistan . Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Sources

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Last Revised: November 19, 2008