Wood Anatomy of the Tribe Dipterygeae With Comments on Related Papilionoid and Caesalpinioid Leguminosae

Abstract

The wood anatomy of all three genera in the tribe Dipterygeae, Dipteryx, Pterodon and Taralea is described here in a systematic context. Dipteryx and Pterodon have short, narrow, storied rays and fine intervessel pitting, whereas Taralea has narrow non-storied rays and much finer intervessel pitting. The wood of T. casiquiarensis is much more similar to that of Dipteryx and Pterodon than to its congeners, and a new combination based on both wood and morphological features is being published in Kew Bulletin (Lewis ' Gasson, in press). The Dipterygeae may form an outlying group to the Dalbergieae, although its nearest affinity has been thought to be with Monopteryx (Sophoreae). Here, the wood anatomy of the three genera is compared with that of Sophoreae, Swartzieae and Dalbergieae.