Tachigali Aubl., Hist. Pl. Guiane: 372. 1775.

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

Tachigali Aubl., Hist. Pl. Guiane: 372. 1775.

Figs 79 , 80 , 81 , 86

Cuba Cuba Scop., Intr. Hist. Nat.: 300. 1777. Type not designated.

Cubaea Schreb., Gen. Pl.: 278. 1789. Type not designated.

Valentinia Neck., Elem. Bot. 2: 450. 1790, opus utique oppr.

Tachia Pers., Syn. Pl. 1: 459. 1805, non Tachia Aublet, Hist. Pl. Guiane: 75. 1775. ( Gentianaceae ). Type: Tachia paniculata Pers. [≡ Tachigali paniculata Aubl.]

Sclerolobium Vogel, Linnaea 11: 395. 1837. Type: Sclerolobium denudatum Vogel [≡ Tachigali denudata (Vogel) Oliveira-Filho]

Type.

Tachigali paniculata Aubl.

Description.

Trees, unarmed. Stipules foliaceous, pinnate or pectinate; persistent to caducous. Leaves paripinnate; leaflets 2-20 pairs, opposite and inversely symmetrical; petiole and/or rachis usually with myrmecophilous domatia. Inflorescences in paniculate terminal racemes or in leaf axils of terminal branches; bracts equal in shape to, but smaller than, the stipules; bracteoles minute, lanceolate or subulate. Flowers radially or bilaterally symmetrical; hypanthium cupulate or obliquely cylindrical; sepals 5, free; petals 5, yellow or orange, lineate, lanceolate or spathulate, sometimes clawed; stamens 10, rarely 15-16, monomorphic with equal filaments, or dimorphic with 7 filaments longer, subulate, and 3 shorter, falcate or sigmoidal; pollen in monads, finely reticulate; ovary stipitate, stigma truncate. Fruit an indehiscent, compressed, oblong-elliptic or oblong, 1-3-seeded cryptosamara; exocarp flaking at maturity; mesocarp surrounded by a subligneous and thin wing; endocarp hyaline and membranous. Seeds oblong-ellipsoid, compressed.

Chromosome number.

2 n = 24 ( Coelho 2014).

Included species and geographic distribution.

Seventy-eight formally described species, but recent taxonomic estimates suggest the genus may include more than 90 species ( Huamantupa-Chuquimaco et al. 2019). Tachigali is a Neotropical genus, widely distributed from Honduras through Central America to southern Brazil and Bolivia in South America (Fig. 86 ).

Ecology.

Three species occur in evergreen and semi-deciduous lowland forests of Central America, T. costaricensis (N. Zamora & Pùveda) N. Zamora & van der Werff, T. panamensis van der Werff & N. Zamora, and T. versicolor Standl. & L.O. Williams ( Foster 1977; van der Werff and Zamora 2010). The South American species occur mainly in the Amazon region, extending to the Brazilian Atlantic coastal rainforests. The greatest diversity is concentrated in the Amazon rainforest with 60 species, but other biomes such as the savannas of central/north-east Brazil and the Atlantic rainforests in southern Brazil also have high levels of richness and endemism ( Dwyer 1954, 1957; van der Werff 2008; Silva et al. 2016; Huamantupa-Chuquimaco et al. 2020). Many Amazonian forest Tachigali species are ant-housing plants, which have important biotic interactions with big-eyed arboreal ants ( Pseudomyrmecinae ) ( Ducke 1949; Dwyer 1954). Monocarpy is well established in Tachigali and has been reported for T. versicolor (Foster, 1977), T. vasquezii ( Poorter et al. 2005), T. argyrophylla Ducke, T. chrysaloides van der Werff, T. melinonii (Harms) Zarucchi & Herend. and T. loretensis van der Werff ( Huamantupa-Chuquimaco 2020).

Etymology.

The generic name is derived from the vernacular name “tachi” for stinging ants.

Human uses.

Used as timber for construction and charcoal. Tachigali vulgaris L.F. Gomes da Silva & H.C. Lima is planted in forest restoration ( Ramos et al. 2021) and the bark of T. tinctoria (Benth.) Zarucchi & Herend. is used in tanning and as a dye.

Notes.

Tachigali is recognisable by the combination of paripinnate leaves, the leaflets inversely symmetrical, stipules foliaceous and mostly pinnate, the petiole and/or rachis usually with myrmecophilous domatia, and very distinct strongly laterally compressed wind-dispersed fruits (cryptosamaras). Floral symmetry marks a major subdivision within Tachigali , and was once used to define two genera ( Dwyer 1954, 1957; Polhill and Vidal 1981), in which the more radially symmetrical-flowered old sense genus Sclerolobium was treated as separate from the bilaterally symmetrical-flowered Tachigali s.s. However, increasing evidence from wood anatomy ( Gasson et al. 2003; Macedo et al. 2014), pollen morphology ( Graham and Barker 1981; Banks and Lewis 2018), comparative flower development ( Casanova et al. 2020), and overall floral, fruit, and leaf morphology (van der Werff 2008; Huamantupa-Chuquimaco et al. 2020) strongly support the merging of the two genera. The grouping of the two genera is also supported by recent phylogenetic analyses, which show no support for generic separation ( LPWG 2017; Huamantupa-Chuquimaco 2020). A taxonomic synopsis of the genus in northern South America was provided by van der Werff (2008) and the Brazilian species are currently being studied by Huamantupa-Chuquimaco et al. (2020).

Taxonomic references.

Dwyer (1954, 1957); Lewis (2005b); Huamantupa-Chuquimaco et al. (2020); Polhill and Vidal (1981); van der Werff (2008).

Figures

Figure 79. Vegetative morphology of Sclerolobieae A Moldenhawera nutans L. P. Queiroz, G. P. Lewis & Allkin shrubby individual in a Restinga sand dune field B Diptychandra aurantiaca (Mart.) Tul. tree in a Caatinga seasonally dry setting C Arapatiella psilophylla (Harms) R. S. Cowan flowering tree D Tachigali amplifolia (Ducke) Barneby large, buttressed tree E Jacqueshuberia purpurea Ducke pinnate stipule F leaf G detail of a leaf H Tachigali rugosa (Mart. ex Benth.) Zarucchi & Pipoly leaf with characteristic inversely symmetrical leaflets I, J Tachigali sp. details of leaf domatia K, L variation in stipule shape. Photo credits A, C, E-L D Cardoso B RT Queiroz https: // rubens-plantasdobrasil. blogspot. com / D I Huamantupa.

Figure 80. Floral morphology of Sclerolobieae A Moldenhawera lushnathiana Yakovlev highly branched inflorescence B Moldenhawera nutans L. P. Queiroz, G. P. Lewis & Allkin flowering branch, showing the typical navicular leaves with rust-coloured leaflet abaxial surface C flowers D Diptychandra aurantiaca (Mart.) Tul. flowering branch E inflorescence F Arapatiella psilophylla (Harms) R. S. Cowan inflorescences G flowers H Jacqueshuberia purpurea Ducke flower I Tachigali macrostachya Huber candelabrum-like inflorescences J Tachigali amarumayu Huamantupa, H. C. Lima & D. B. O. S. Cardoso densely paniculate inflorescences K Tachigali paraensis (Huber) Barneby radially symmetrical flowers L Tachigali paniculata Aubl. bilaterally symmetrical flowers M Tachigali macrostachya bilaterally symmetrical flowers. Photo credits A LP Queiroz B, C, F, G, I, K-M D Cardoso J I Huamantupa D, E RT Queiroz https: // rubens-plantasdobrasil. blogspot. com / H M Cohn-Haft.

Figure 81. Fruit morphology of Sclerolobieae A Moldenhawera polysperma (Vell.) Stellfeld old fruit valves B Diptychandra aurantiaca (Mart.) Tul. fruits C fruit opened showing the characteristic winged seed D Arapatiella psilophylla (Harms) R. S. Cowan immature fruit E Jacqueshuberia purpurea Ducke immature fruits F Tachigali macrostachya Huber immature fruits G Tachigali rugosa (Mart. ex Benth.) Zarucchi & Pipoly mature fruits. Photo credits A C Vivas B, C RT Queiroz https: // rubens-plantasdobrasil. blogspot. com / D-F D Cardoso G LP Queiroz.

Figure 86. Distribution of Tachigali based on quality-controlled digitised herbarium records. See Suppl. material 1 for the source of occurrence data.