Caesalpinia L., Sp. Pl. 1: 380. 1753.

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

Caesalpinia L., Sp. Pl. 1: 380. 1753.

Figs 35 , 53

Poinciana L., Sp. Pl. 1: 380. 1753. Type: Poinciana pulcherrima L. [≡ Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw.]

Caesalpinia sect. Brasilettia DC., Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 2: 481. 1825. Type: Caesalpinia brasiliensis L.

Brasilettia (DC.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 164. 1891. Type: Brasilettia brasiliensis (L.) Kuntze [≡ Caesalpinia brasiliensis L.]

Type.

Caesalpinia brasiliensis L.

Description.

Shrubs or small trees, usually armed with curved deflexed prickles. Stipules minute, caducous or apparently lacking. Leaves bipinnate, pinnae (1) 2-6 pairs, opposite; leaflets 3-13 pairs per pinna, alternate to opposite. Inflorescence a terminal or axillary raceme or panicle. Flowers pedicellate, bisexual, zygomorphic; hypanthium persistent as a cup at the apex of the pedicel as the fruit matures, if the fruit stipitate then the stipe exerted from the hypanthial cup, or the whole calyx persistent (e.g., in Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw.); sepals 5, caducous or persistent, eglandular, the lower sepal strongly cucullate and covering the other 4 sepals in bud; petals 5, variable in colour (yellow, white, red, orange or green), the corolla also variable in shape; stamens 10, free, the filaments pubescent; ovary glabrous and eglandular. Fruit a wingless, unarmed, coriaceous, glabrous, eglandular, explosively dehiscent legume, with twisting valves, 3-7-seeded. Seeds laterally compressed.

Chromosome number.

2 n = 24 ( C. bahamensis Lam., C. pulcherrima ) ( Darlington and Wylie 1956; Fedorov 1969).

Included species and geographic distribution.

Nine species restricted to the Neotropics (apart from the pantropically cultivated C. pulcherrima ). One species ( C. cassioides Willd.) occurs in the northern Andes from Peru to Colombia, one ( C. pulcherrima ) is likely native in Guatemala and the state of Sonora in Mexico (but is widely cultivated), C. nipensis Urb. is endemic to Cuba, and all other species are also Caribbean in distribution (Fig. 53 ).

Ecology.

Seasonally dry tropical forests, coastal thicket, bushlands and thorn scrubs, dry plains, and riparian woodlands, on soils derived from limestone or sandstone.

Etymology.

Named by Linnaeus for Andrea Cesalpino (1519-1603), Italian naturalist, botanical collector, systematist and philosopher, physician to Pope Clement VIII, professor of medicine and botany in Pisa and Rome.

Human uses.

Caesalpinia pulcherrima is widely cultivated pantropically as a garden and park ornamental and has various medicinal properties ( Lewis 2005b). The species includes red, orange, and yellow-flowered forms and cultivated specimens are usually unarmed and lack bristles (unlike wild specimens which are armed and bristly).

Notes.

Caesalpinia , as recently re-circumscribed ( Gagnon et al. 2016), is reduced to nine species, although a detailed taxonomic revision is needed to properly delimit species and synonymy. Palaeotropical species previously included in Caesalpinia s.s., sensu Lewis (2005b), have been transferred to other genera, notably Denisophytum and Gelrebia ( Gagnon et al. 2016). While Brasilettia (DC.) Kuntze is a synonym of Caesalpinia , the genus Brasilettia sensu Britton and Rose (1930) included eight species which are now all placed in the genus Coulteria Kunth. The variation in corolla colour and shape in Caesalpinia species is related to different pollination systems: bees, butterflies, birds, and bats.

Taxonomic references.

Barreto Valdés (2013); Britton and Rose (1930); Gagnon et al. (2016); Lewis (2005b); Macbride (1943); Ulibarri (1996).

Figures

Figure 35. Flowers of Caesalpinieae A Tara spinosa Britton & Rose, Peru, Ancash (Hughes et al. 3043) B Cenostigma pluviosum (DC.) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis var. pluviosum, Bolivia, Santa Cruz (Wood et al. 26552) C Caesalpinia bahamensis Lam., Cuba (Lewis 1853) D Hultholia mimosoides (Lam.) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, India E Pomaria burchellii (DC.) B. B. Simpson & G. P. Lewis, Botswana Ghanzi district F Erythrostemon coccineus (G. P. Lewis & J. L. Contr.) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Mexico, Oaxaca (Lewis et al. 1802) G Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw., Honduras H Erythrostemon melanadenius (Rose) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Mexico, Oaxaca (Hughes et al. 2091) I Pterolobium stellatum (Forssk.) Brenan, Africa J Guilandina bonduc L., India K Gelrebia trothaei (Harms) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Tanzania. Photo credits A E Gagnon B, F-H CE Hughes C GP Lewis D VR Vinayaraj, India Biodiversity Portal (https: // indiabiodiversity. org / group / wild _ orchids _ of _ india / observation / show / 335155), the basionym of Hultholia mimosoides E O Bourquin, Flora of Zimbabwe (https: // www. zimbabweflora. co. zw / speciesdata / image-display. php? species _ id = 127200 & image _ id = 6) I P Van Wyk J M Sanjappa K PJ Cribb.

Figure 53. Distribution of Caesalpinia based on quality-controlled digitised herbarium records. The distribution of Caesalpinia pulcherrima in Sonora and Guatemala is based on specimen records that morphologically appear to be non-cultivated, but the exact native distribution of the species remains difficult to ascertain because it has been widely cultivated for a long time. See Suppl. material 1 for the source of occurrence data.