Schleinitzia Warb. ex J.C. Willis, Dict. Fl. Pl., ed. 4: 594. 1919.

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

Schleinitzia Warb. ex J.C. Willis, Dict. Fl. Pl., ed. 4: 594. 1919.

Figs 145 , 146 , 150

Type.

Schleinitzia novoguineensis (Warb.) L.I. Nevling & C.J. Niezgoda [≡ Piptadenia novoguineensis Warb.]

Description.

Trees or shrubs, 2-20 (-25) m, unarmed, young stems angled with corky ridges, brachyblasts absent. Stipules acicular to triangular, persistent. Leaves bipinnate; petiole ventrally sulcate, nectary at apex of petiole or mid-petiole, additional nectaries between distal-most and sometimes all pinnae, crateriform to urceolate; pinnae 4-30 pairs, opposite to subopposite; leaflets 20-60 pairs per pinna, opposite, linear to oblong; venation obscure except central midvein. Inflorescence capitate, globose, clustered 2-7 per node in terminal, largely efoliate panicles (Fig. 145E ), peduncle bearing an involucel of fused bracts below the inflorescence; bracteoles subtending each flower peltate, carinate, semi-persistent. Flowers either all hermaphrodite, all functionally staminate, or functionally staminate proximally and hermaphrodite distally, sterile flowers with staminodia absent, sessile, base of calyx prolonged into a pseudopedicel; hypanthium absent; sepals valvate in bud, calyx obconic, ¾ length of petals; petals valvate, 5, free, membranous, 1-nerved; stamens 10; anthers dorsifixed, bearing a caducous apical claviform gland; pollen in tetrahedral tetrads of tricolporate grains, or [ Schleinitzia megaladenia (Merr.) P. Guinet & I.C. Nielsen] loose polyads of 5 associated tetrads of porate grains; ovary sessile, oblong, glabrous, stigma funnelform. Fruits somewhat upright on stout peduncles, often 5-8 per infructescence, straight, strongly compressed, linear-oblong (Fig. 146J ), 8-20-seeded, seeds transversely inserted; valves coriaceous, indehiscent, sutural ribs separating but valves remaining attached; epicarp chartaceous, dark brown; endocarp fibrous, smooth, straw-coloured forming partitions between seeds, mesocarp spongy. Seeds narrow ovate to oblong, smooth, testa dark brown to black, pleurogram deeply U-shaped.

Chromosome number.

2 n = 52 or 54 ( Nevling and Niezgoda 1978; Goldblatt 1981b); whole genus apparently paleopolyploid.

Included species and geographic distribution.

Four species disjunctly distributed across the western Pacific basin in New Guinea, the Philippines, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (Fig. 150 ).

Ecology.

In lowland rainforests, especially common in secondary vegetation near the coast, and in littoral habitats above high-tide limits on calcareous substrates, especially coral limestone and coral sand, and often forming thickets on coastal beach strands ( Fosberg and Stone 1965).

Etymology.

Named in honour of Vice Admiral George Schleinitz (1834-1910), governor of German New Guinea (now part of Papua New Guinea).

Human uses.

The wood is favoured for cremations, handicrafts and frames for fish nets ( Nevling and Niezgoda 1978).

Notes.

Schleinitzia is characterised by a fused whorl of bracts subtending the capitate inflorescence, similar to those of Kanaloa and Leucaena . Pollen in calymmate tetrahedral tetrads is also seen in Lemurodendron , Leucaena and Mezcala . Schleinitzia differs from related genera in having the flowers borne on pseudopedicels instead of being sessile.

Taxonomic references.

Nevling and Niezgoda (1978), including illustrations.

Figures

Figure 145. Inflorescences and flowers of genera of the Dichrostachys clade A Lemurodendron capuronii Villiers & P. Guinet (Koenen 435) B inflorescence of Neptunia plena (L.) Benth., basal flowers sterile with showy yellow petaloid staminodia (Wood 26650) C inflorescence of Leucaena esculenta (Sesse & Mocino ex DC.) Benth. (Hughes 1326) D inflorescences and tergeminate leaves of Kanaloa kahoolawensis Lorence & K. R. Wood E fascicles of capitate inflorescences in axils of coevally developing leaves, Schleinitzia fosbergii Nevling & Niezgoda F inflorescences of Desmanthus bicornutus S. Watson showing basal sterile flowers with exserted white showy staminodia (Hughes 1526) G capitate inflorescences of Prosopidastrum globosum (Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) Burkart H semi-spherical capitate inflorescences of Calliandropsis nervosa (Britton & Rose) H. M. Hern. & P. Guinet (Hughes 1784) I inflorescence of Alantsilodendron ramosum Villiers J spicate inflorescences of Gagnebina pterocarpa (Lam.) Baill., the basal flowers sterile with showy white staminodia K spicate inflorescence of Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight & Arn., basal flowers sterile with showy pink staminodia L compact spikes of Dichrostachys akataensis Villiers the basal flowers sterile with showy pale pink staminodia. Photo credits A E Koenen B, C, F, H, J, K CE Hughes D A Palomino E Lauren Gutierrez G D Cabral, Flora Mondocina I, L D Du Puy.

Figure 146. Fruits of genera of the Dichrostachys clade A leaves and pod of Lemurodendron capuronii Villiers & P. Guinet, north-eastern Madagascar (Koenen 429) B Neptunia plena (L.) Benth. fruits dehiscing along the dorsal suture (Wood 26650) C ripe pods of Leucaena cruziana Britton & Rose, Oaxaca, Mexico (Hughes 1300) D cluster of unripe pods on a single inflorescence of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit subsp. glabrata (Rose) S. Zarate, Honduras (Hughes 1557) E ripe pods of Desmanthus leptophyllus Kunth dehiscing along both sutures (Hughes 3098) F unripe fruit of Mezcala balsensis (J. L. Contr.) C. E. Hughes & J. L. Contr., held erect, Guerrero, Mexico G ripe fruits of Mezcala balsensis dehiscing from the apex along both sutures H, I unripe and ripe fruits of Kanaloa kahoolawensis Lorence & K. R. Wood, cultivated at the Olinda rare plant propagation facility, Maui, Hawaii, USA J ripe fruits of Schleinitzia insularum (Guilemin) Burkart, the valves tardily splitting along both sutures but indehiscent K winged fruits of Gagnebina pterocarpa (Lam.) Baill., Madagascar L unripe, lomentiform fruits of Prosopidastrum globosum (Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) Burkart which break up into one- or few-seeded fragments when ripe M ripe fruits of Mimozyganthus carinatus (Griseb.) Burkart, S Bolivia (Hughes 2476) N ripe fruits, elastically dehisced from the apex, Calliandropsis nervosa (Britton & Rose) H. M. Hern. & P. Guinet, Puebla, Mexico (Hughes 1784) O unripe coiled fruits of Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight & Arn. P ripe fruits dehiscing elastically from the apex, Dichrostachys venosa Villiers, southern Madagascar Q ripe fruits of Alantsilodendron pilosum Villiers, Madagascar. Photo credits A E Koenen B-E, M, N C Hughes F, G J Luis Contreras H, I A Palomino J G McCormack, Cook Islands Biodiversity K, P, Q D Du Puy L I Specogno, Flora Mendocina O Atamari (CC-BY-SA- 3.0).

Figure 150. Distribution of Schleinitzia based on quality-controlled digitised herbarium records. See Suppl. material 1 for the source of occurrence data.