Tara Molina, Saggio Chili: 283. 1789.

Bruneau, Anne, de Queiroz, Luciano Paganucci, Ringelberg, Jens J., Borges, Leonardo M., Bortoluzzi, Roseli Lopes da Costa, Brown, Gillian K., Cardoso, Domingos B. O. S., Clark, Ruth P., Conceicao, Adilva de Souza, Cota, Matheus Martins Teixeira, Demeulenaere, Else, de Stefano, Rodrigo Duno, Ebinger, John E., Ferm, Julia, Fonseca-Cortes, Andres, Gagnon, Edeline, Grether, Rosaura, Guerra, Ethiene, Haston, Elspeth, Herendeen, Patrick S., Hernandez, Hector M., Hopkins, Helen C. F., Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau, Hughes, Colin E., Ickert-Bond, Stefanie M., Iganci, Joao, Koenen, Erik J. M., Lewis, Gwilym P., de Lima, Haroldo Cavalcante, de Lima, Alexandre Gibau, Luckow, Melissa, Marazzi, Brigitte, Maslin, Bruce R., Morales, Matias, Morim, Marli Pires, Murphy, Daniel J., O'Donnell, Shawn A., Oliveira, Filipe Gomes, Oliveira, Ana Carla da Silva, Rando, Juliana Gastaldello, Ribeiro, Petala Gomes, Ribeiro, Carolina Lima, Santos, Felipe da Silva, Seigler, David S., da Silva, Guilherme Sousa, Simon, Marcelo F., Soares, Marcos Vinicius Batista & Terra, Vanessa, 2024, Advances in Legume Systematics 14. Classification of Caesalpinioideae. Part 2: Higher-level classification, PhytoKeys 240, pp. 1-552 : 1

Tara Molina, Saggio Chili: 283. 1789.

Figs 35 , 57

Nicarago Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23(5): 319. 1930. Type: Nicarago vesicaria (L.) Britton & Rose [≡ Caesalpinia vesicaria L. (≡ Tara vesicaria (L.) Molinari, Sánchez Och. & Mayta)]

Russellodendron Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23(5): 320. 1930. Type: Russellodedron cacalaco (Bonpl.) Britton & Rose [≡ Caesalpinia cacalaco Bonpl. (≡ Tara cacalaco (Bonpl.) Molinari & Sánchez Och.)]

Type.

Tara tinctoria Molina [= Tara spinosa (Molina) Britton & Rose]

Description.

Shrubs or trees, armed with deflexed prickles. Stipules minute, deltate-lanceolate, caducous, or lacking. Leaves bipinnate, ending with a pair of pinnae, sometimes armed with prickles at the base of the pinnae and leaflets; pinnae in 2-5 opposite pairs; leaflets 1-8 opposite pairs per pinna. Inflorescence a terminal or axillary raceme or panicle. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic; hypanthium persistent as a shallow cup at the pedicel apex or abscising as a narrow free ring as the fruit matures; sepals 5, eglandular, caducous, lower sepal cucullate covering the other 4 sepals in bud, with a pectinate, fimbriate or entire margin; petals 5, free, yellow, the median petal with red markings; stamens 10, free, the filaments pubescent, eglandular; ovary puberulent to glabrescent. Fruit an indehiscent legume, straight, oblong, laterally compressed, slightly turgid and somewhat fleshy, coriaceous. Seeds ellipsoid, brown, shiny.

Chromosome number.

2 n = 24 (all three species) ( Mata-Sucre et al. 2020).

Included species and geographic distribution.

Three species, one in South America ( T. spinosa , which occurs from central and south-western Colombia through Ecuador and Peru into Bolivia), one in Mexico [ T. cacalaco (Bonpl.) Molinari & Sánchez Och.] and one in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and extending into the Caribbean [ T. vesicaria (L.) Molinari, Sánchez Och. & Mayta] (Fig. 57 ).

Ecology.

Seasonally dry tropical forests to semi-arid thorn scrubs.

Etymology.

Derived from the vernacular name ‘tara’ in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.

Human uses.

Tara spinosa is widely cultivated across the tropics and subtropics (including in the Canary Islands) as a source of tannins, gums and firewood, and occasionally as an ornamental ( Lewis 2005b).

Notes.

As originally described by Molina, the genus Tara contained a single binomial. The genus Coulteria , as described by Kunth (1824), contained three species, one, C. mollis , designated as the type of Coulteria , the other two clearly shown to be more closely related to the type species of Tara ( Gagnon et al. 2013, 2016). Based on Gagnon et al. (2013), Molinari-Novoa and Sánchez Ocharan (2016a) transferred Caesalpinia cacalaco and Caesalpinia vesicaria to the genus Tara .

Taxonomic references.

Barreto Valdés (2013); Britton and Rose (1930); Gagnon et al. (2016); Lewis (2005b); Macbride (1943, as Caesalpinia spinosa ); Molinari-Novoa and Sánchez Ocharan (2016); Sprague (1931); Ulibarri (1996).

Figures

Figure 35. Flowers of Caesalpinieae A Tara spinosa Britton & Rose, Peru, Ancash (Hughes et al. 3043) B Cenostigma pluviosum (DC.) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis var. pluviosum, Bolivia, Santa Cruz (Wood et al. 26552) C Caesalpinia bahamensis Lam., Cuba (Lewis 1853) D Hultholia mimosoides (Lam.) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, India E Pomaria burchellii (DC.) B. B. Simpson & G. P. Lewis, Botswana Ghanzi district F Erythrostemon coccineus (G. P. Lewis & J. L. Contr.) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Mexico, Oaxaca (Lewis et al. 1802) G Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw., Honduras H Erythrostemon melanadenius (Rose) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Mexico, Oaxaca (Hughes et al. 2091) I Pterolobium stellatum (Forssk.) Brenan, Africa J Guilandina bonduc L., India K Gelrebia trothaei (Harms) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Tanzania. Photo credits A E Gagnon B, F-H CE Hughes C GP Lewis D VR Vinayaraj, India Biodiversity Portal (https: // indiabiodiversity. org / group / wild _ orchids _ of _ india / observation / show / 335155), the basionym of Hultholia mimosoides E O Bourquin, Flora of Zimbabwe (https: // www. zimbabweflora. co. zw / speciesdata / image-display. php? species _ id = 127200 & image _ id = 6) I P Van Wyk J M Sanjappa K PJ Cribb.

Figure 57. Distribution of Tara based on quality-controlled digitised herbarium records. See Suppl. material 1 for the source of occurrence data.