Guilandina L., Sp. Pl.: 381. 1753.
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https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.240.101716 |
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https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3151B372-A688-E00B-A5A4-EE3DBA05B0D7 |
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scientific name |
Guilandina L., Sp. Pl.: 381. 1753. |
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Guilandina L., Sp. Pl.: 381. 1753. View in CoL
Figs 35 View Figure 35 , 37 View Figure 37 , 59 View Figure 59
Bonduc Mill., Gard. Dict. Arb. Ed. 4: 28. 1754.
Caesalpinia subg. Guilandina (L.) Gillis & Proctor, J. Arnold. Arbor. 55(3): 426. 1974. Type: Caesalpinia bonduc (L.) Roxb. [≡ Guilandina bonduc L.]
Type.
Description.
Lianas or scrambling shrubs, generally densely armed with robust recurved prickles. Stipules subulate to compound-foliaceous, caducous to persistent. Leaves bipinnate, with recurved prickles on leaf and pinnae rachides; pinnae in 3-11 opposite pairs; leaflets 3-24 opposite to alternate pairs per pinna, eglandular. Inflorescence a terminal or axillary raceme, often branched near the base. Flowers unisexual, segregated on separate staminate and pistillate racemes (sometimes the staminate flowers cryptically hermaphrodite but with the anthers lacking pollen); hypanthium either not persistent in fruit or persisting as a narrow tube closely adhering to the fruit stipe; sepals 5, caducous, valvate in bud, the lower sepal slightly cucullate; petals 5, free, yellow, barely exceeding the sepals; stamens 10, free, pubescent near the filament base; ovary usually covered in bristly trichomes. Fruits oblong elliptic, inflated legumes, usually armed with 5-10 mm long slender spinescent bristles. Seeds obovoid to globular, ca. 2 cm in diameter, smooth, grey, pale to dark brown, or orange, with parallel fracture lines concentric with the small apical hilum.
Chromosome number.
2 n = 24 ( G. bonduc ) ( Fedorov 1969).
Included species and geographic distribution.
Up to 20 species (see notes), widely distributed as far north as some of the southern and eastern Japanese islands, south to South Africa, Madagascar, and Australia. Also occurring in South America and the Caribbean, China, India, Myanmar (Burma), Indo China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan (Fig. 59 View Figure 59 ).
Ecology.
Coastal thickets on sand, in secondary forests, and lowland rainforests, occasionally on limestone.
Etymology.
Named by Linnaeus for Melchior Wieland (1515-1589), Prussian naturalist, traveller, and scholar from Königsberg, who settled in Italy and italianised his name to ‘Guilandini’, or Guilandinus in Latin; he was sent to the Levant, Asia, and Africa (1559-1560), was captured by pirates and finally ransomed by Gabriele Falloppio.
Human uses.
There are reports of the genus being poisonous, although some species are used medicinally. The large globose seeds of G. bonduc and G. major are used as marbles, necklace beads and buttons ( Lewis 2005b).
Notes.
Guilandina lacks a recent global taxonomic account and there are doubts about the number of species, with estimates ranging from seven to 20. The genus needs to be revised with particular attention given to species delimitation, synonymy, and geographical distribution. Six Caesalpinia binomials included as belonging to Guilandina in Gagnon et al. (2016), together with Caesalpinia robusta (C.T. White) Pedley, were formally transferred to Guilandina by Lewis (2020b). One of those, Guilandina homblei (R. Wilczek) G.P. Lewis, is now recognised as a synonym of Guilandina bonduc L. ( Robrecht et al. 2021).
Taxonomic references.
Brenan (1967); Britton and Rose (1930); Chen et al. (2010a); Du Puy and Rabevohitra (2002); Gagnon et al. (2016); Gillis and Proctor (1974); Hattink (1974); Lewis (2005b, 2020b); Vidal and Hul Thol (1976); Wilczek (1951).
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