Harpalyce brasiliana Benth.
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Authority
Arroyo, M. A. 1976. The systematics of the legume genus Harpalyce (Leguminosae: Lotoideae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 26 (4): 1-80.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
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Species Description - Few Stemmed, erect then pendent, or less commonly a bushy shrub 2-3 m tall, the branches stout, sulcate, greyish-green tomentose, velutinous or sericeo-velutinous, aging with canescent to greyish-brown, puberulent to glabrous bark, often longitudinally streaked with cream-colored lenticellar areas; stipules usually persistent, triangular, 1-3 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, acute, appressed to the stem, velutinous externally, glabrous within, petioles often stout, terete to shallowly grooved, 2-10 mm long, densely tomentose to sericeo-velutinous, the rachis 3-20 cm long, tomentose to sericeovelutinous; leaflets (3-)9-21, softly chartaceous, velutinous, weakly or densely sericeous above, velutinous or weakly to densely clad in long silky hairs interspersed with loosely adherent pale green, uniseriate, cone-shaped, peltate glands beneath, the glands not at all evident to the naked eye; midvein and primary veins strongly raised, ferrugineous or sericeous beneath, pallid on the upper leaflet surface; primary veins shallowly arcuate, emerging from the midvein at 40°-50°, disappearing toward the margin on both surfaces, or more rarely obscurely convergent toward the margin beneath; lateral leaflets oblong to ovate-oblong, 1.5-6 cm long, 0.7-2.5 cm wide, obtuse or less commonly retuse or acute at the apex, rounded at the base, the proximal pair of leaflets as much as one third shorter than the other pairs and strongly deflexed toward the petiole; terminal leaflet elliptic to obovate, (1.5-)2-6(-7) cm long, 1.5-3(-3.5) cm wide, the apex strongly retuse or less commonly obtuse, the base rounded; petiolules 2-15 mm long, densely velutinous; stipels caducous, the interpetiolular region traversed by a fine line of glandular scales, these shorter than and obscured by the pubescence of the rachis. Flowers borne in leafy panicles of axillary, pendent, 10-15-flowered racemes, 5-15 cm long, the subtending leaves 1-3-foliate, much reduced; peduncles 2-5 cm long, weakly sulcate, tomentose to sericeo-velutinous; bracts subtending the lowermost flowers of the raceme foliar, unifoliolate, the others linear, 3 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, caducous; pedicels 0.6-1.5 mm long, tomentose to sericeo-velutinous; bracteoles rarely persistent, linear, 4-6 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, less than one half the length of the calyx; calyx in bud obtuse at the apex, obtuse to truncate at the base, strongly curved, the two lips on the outside tomentose, sparsely and obscurely gland-dotted, on the inside glabrous; vexillar lip of the calyx ovate-oblong, 2.3-3 cm long, 4-9 mm wide, strongly cucullate at the apex, the hooded portion obtuse 2-4.5 mm wide; carinal lip narrowly ovate, 2.8-3.2 cm long, 4-8 mm wide, acute to very shortly apiculate at the apex; corolla membranaceous, the vexillum orange-red, fading salmon-red, drying purplish-pink streaked with numerous fine, dark-orange veins radiating from the claw, the veins drying dark red; blade of the vexillum round, 1.8-2.8 cm long, 1.4-3 cm wide, emarginate, rapidly expanding into a slender, entire claw, 4-6 mm long, 1-3 mm wide; wings colored as the vexillum but less evidently veined, broadly obovate, 1.4-2.5 cm long, 0.6-1.5 cm wide, curved at the claw, the auricle on the vexiUar side 1-2 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide; keel helically contorted, pale orange to salmon, not conspicuously veined, the petals ovate-oblong, broadest below the middle, connate except at the claws and at the tips, 2.3-3.5 cm long, 4-7 mm wide, the auricle triangular, 1-1.5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, reflexed toward the claw; nectariferous disc ca. 0.25 mm wide; staminal sheath slender, 2.4-3.5 cm long, wholly included in the keel or slightly exserted; large anthers ovate-oblong, 2.5 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, retuse to occasionally acute at the apex; small anthers ovate, 1 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, pollen powdery, long axis 48-54 µ; ovary linear-oblong, somewhat curved, 0.6-1 cm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, containing 16-20 ovules; style filliform, 2-3 cm long, strongly curved, exserted from the staminal sheath by 3-5 mm; stigma peniceUate, the hairs dense, curved. Legume oblong, 5-8 cm long, 1.2-1.6 cm wide, acute, apiculate or briefly uncinate at the apex, obtuse at the base, internally divided throughout by false, elastic partitions, the valves coriaceous. tan-brown, dull to somewhat nitid, finely reticulate on the outside. Seeds 12-15, oblong in outline, 5-8 mm long, 3-4 mm wide dull brown, the strophiole nonoperculate, drying yellowish-brown.
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Discussion
7. Harpalyce brasiliana Bentham, Hook. Jour. Bot. 3: 210 (text). Tab. V I (plate). 1840. (Fig. 12a-f). Type. BRAZIL. Ceara: in Serra de Araripe, Gardner 1584, 1838. (lectotype, K! isolectotypes, GH! NY! P!). Paratype, Minas Gerais: Caxoeiras do Campos propre Rio San Francisco, Claussen s.n. 1834 (K!); Aldea do Chapada, Riedel 185, 1837 (K! NY neg. 2255, photo of K specimen, at NY!). Goias: Serra do Manuel Gomez, Pohl 1637, 1819 (F! K! NY! NY neg. 2254, photo of K specimen, at NY!); Mato Grosso: propre Cuyaba, Herb. Martius 587, 1839 (K! NY! P!). Harpalyce brasiliana is a widespread species displaying considerable diversity over its extensive range. From other species of section Brasilianae it is distinguished by the moderate number of rather soft, velutinous or sericeous leaflets and the lax, leafy panicles of pendent racemes bearing large handsome scarlet to orange-red flowers. Two varieties are recognized. Harpalyce brasiliana var. sericea is considered distinct from var. brasiliana on the basis of its densely sericeous leaflets and smaller flowers. The distinctive characters of this variety, which is known only from the type locality in the vicinity of Sao Felix on the northwestern side of the Serra de Ibiapaba in the state of Ceara, would appear to be the result of geographical isolation of a northern-most extension of the species, separated from the typical variety by the presence of the Serra de Ibiapaba. T h e typical form of H. brasiliana var. brasiliana is widespread and geographically diverse as to leaflet size and shape. Two interesting variations in habit in var. brasiliana, which in view of lack of supporting characters, are not considered on a formal taxonomic basis are worthy of mention. T h e plants in most populations of this variety that I have observed in Minas Gerais and Goias are tall (2-3 m), fewstemmed shrubs with strongly sulcate, pendent branches. On the Chapada dos Veadeiros in south-central Goias, among sandstone outcrops, the typical form of H brasiliana var. brasiliana is replaced by a low (usually less than 1 m ) much-branched, bushy shrub which flowers 2-3 months before the few-stemmed form.