Batesia Spruce ex Benth., Gen. Pl. 1: 563. 1865.

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

Batesia Spruce ex Benth., Gen. Pl. 1: 563. 1865.

Figs 22 , 23 , 25

Type.

Batesia floribunda Spruce ex Benth.

Description.

Unarmed trees. Stipules not observed. Leaves spiral, imparipinnate or, rarely, paripinnate; extrafloral nectaries present between the proximal pair of leaflets, sometimes also between the distal ones, secretory surface flat and disc shaped; petiole narrowly winged; leaflets 9-13, opposite. Inflorescence a panicle; bract 1, caducous, bracteoles 2, caducous. Flowers perigynous, radially symmetrical; hypanthium campanulate; sepals 5, free; petals 5, yellow, free; stamens 10, homomorphic, filaments villous at the base, anthers longitudinally dehiscent; pollen unknown; ovary shortly stipitate, attached to the base of the hypanthium. Fruit an ellipsoid to oblong-obovate follicle, turgid and slightly compressed, the valves fleshy-coriaceus with strongly raised veins, dehiscent. Seeds globose with a reddish and smooth testa.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Included species and geographic distribution.

Monospecific ( B. floribunda ), occurring in northern and north-western South America in the wet Amazonian forests of Brazil, French Guiana, Colombia and Peru (Fig. 25 ).

Ecology.

The genus is known only on well-drained soils from lowland tropical rainforests of the Amazon basin ('terra firme").

Human uses.

The timber of B. floribunda is used in the construction of fine furniture ( Lewis 2005b).

Etymology.

Named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, who explored the Amazon rainforests with A.R. Wallace in the 19th century ( Lewis 2005b).

Notes.

Batesia is characterised by the presence of winged leaf petioles, extrafloral nectaries between the leaflet pairs, and mainly by the fruit follicle with bright red seeds. In the original description, Batesia was described with three bracteoles on the pedicels, but observation of herbarium specimens lead us to the conclusion that there are two bracteoles and one bract. Herbarium specimens (vegetative or with fruits and seeds) of B. floribunda are often misidentified as Ormosia Jacks. ( Papilionoideae ). However, Ormosia displays terete leaf petioles, lacks extrafloral nectaries, and has a distinct fruit. The relationship of Batesia , in particular to Chamaecrista and a clade that groups Recordoxylon and Melanoxylum , remains poorly understood and requires further study (Fig. 21 ).

Taxonomic references.

Bentham (1865, 1866); Cota (2020b); Ducke (1949); Lewis (2005b).

Figures

Figure 21. Generic relationships in tribe Cassieae. Two most likely positions of the unsampled genus Vouacapoua are indicated with dashed lines: 1) as sister to all Cassieae [following Bruneau et al. (2008) and Marazzi and Sanderson (2010)], and 2) as sister to Melanoxylum and Recordoxylon [following Manzanilla and Bruneau (2012) and Kates et al. (2024)]. For description of phylogeny and support values, see Fig. 6 caption (page 63).

Figure 22. Examples of variation in stamens and pistil among Cassieae genera A Cassia moschata Kunth (Rando et al. 1184) B Senna macranthera (DC. ex Collad.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby (Rando et al. 272) C Chamaecrista bahiae (H. S. Irwin) H. S. Irwin & Barneby (Rando et al. 1214) D Melanoxylum brauna Schott (Cardoso et al. 2439) E Recordoxylon speciosum (Benoist) Gazel ex Barneby (Pereira-Silva et al. 15631) F Vouacapoua americana Aubl (Nascimento 245). G Batesia floribunda Spruce ex Benth (based on photographs of Projeto Flora Reserva Ducke, INPA / DFID, comm. Mike Hopkins). Scale: 1 cm. Drawn by Najla M. B. Scheidegger / @ ilustre. nt.

Figure 23. Examples of Batesia, Melanoxylum, Recordoxylon and Vouacapoua diversity A Batesia floribunda Spruce ex Benth. extrafloral nectary, petiolules and part of leaflets (Cota 1158) B, C Vouacapoua americana Aubl. (Cardoso et al. 3450) B leaves and immature fruit C mature fruits and seeds on the ground D, E Melanoxylum brauna Schott (Cardoso et al. 2439) D inflorescence, buds and flowers E flower F-H Recordoxylon speciosum (Benoist) Gazel ex Barneby (Pereira-Silva et al. 15631) F trunk of mature individual G flowers and immature fruit H flower. Photo credits A-E D Cardoso F-H G Pereira-Silva.

Figure 25. Distribution of Batesia based on quality-controlled digitised herbarium records. See Suppl. material 1 for the source of occurrence data.