Zygia P. Browne, Civ. Nat. Hist. Jamaica: 279, t. 22, fig. 3. 1756.

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

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.240.101716

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/9848D88A-024F-257D-D76B-B17CF144CA57

treatment provided by

PhytoKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Zygia P. Browne, Civ. Nat. Hist. Jamaica: 279, t. 22, fig. 3. 1756.
status

 

Zygia P. Browne, Civ. Nat. Hist. Jamaica: 279, t. 22, fig. 3. 1756. View in CoL

Figs 266 View Figure 266 , 268 View Figure 268 , 274 View Figure 274 , 275 View Figure 275

Pithecellobium sect. Caulanthon Benth., London J. Bot. 3: 197. 1844. Type: Pithecellobium unifoliolatum Benth. [≡ Zygia unifoliolata (Benth.) Pittier]

Calliandra sect. Caulanthon (Benth.) Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. I.: 225. 1864. Type: Calliandra latifolia (L.) Griseb. [≡ Zygia latifolia (L.) Fawc. & Rendle]

Marmaroxylon Killip in Record, Trop. Woods 63: 3. 1940. Type: Marmaroxylon racemosum (Ducke) Killip [≡ Pithecellobium racemosum Ducke (≡ Zygia racemosa (Ducke) Barneby & J.W. Grimes)]

Pithecellobium sect. Callozygia Barbosa, Caldasia 14: 400. 1986. Type: Pithecellobium lehmannii Harms [≡ Zygia lehmannii (Harms) Britton & Rose]

Zygia sect. Callozygia (Barbosa) L. Rico, Kew Bull. 46: 495. 1991. Type: Zygia lehmannii (Harms) Britton & Rose [≡ Pithecellobium lehmanii Harms]

Zygia sect. Macrophylla L. Rico, Kew Bull. 46: 495. 1991. Type: Zygia macrophylla (Spruce ex Benth.) L. Rico [≡ Pithecellobium macrophyllum Spruce ex Benth.]

Type.

Zygia latifolia (L.) Fawc. & Rendle [≡ Mimosa latifolia L.]

Description.

Unarmed shrubs or small trees, rarely reaching 20 m height, rarely lianas (Fig. 268E View Figure 268 ); bark smooth or flaky, whitish or pale grey. Stipules small, ribbed, caducous, rarely persistent. Leaves bipinnate, rarely paripinnate [ Z. inundata (Ducke) H.C. Lima ex Barneby & J.W. Grimes] or bifoliolate [ Z. unifoliolata (Benth.) Pittier], pinnae 1-10 pairs, opposite; leaflets 1-23 pairs per pinna, sessile, opposite to subopposite, pinnately or palmately veined, frequently with the inner leaflet of proximal pair reduced; petiolar glands sessile, between or immediately below the first pinnae pair, additional glands usually present on the leaf rachis or pinnae rachides between the leaflets insertion, rarely absent ( Z. transamazonica Barneby & J.W. Grimes). Inflorescence units mostly capitate or spicate, exceptionally umbelliform capitula or racemes, isolated or clustered in cauliflorous or ramiflorous synflorescences on the trunk or branches (Fig. 274A, B View Figure 274 ), rarely in leaf axils [ Z. odoratissima (Ducke) L. Rico and Z. ocumarensis (Pittier) Barneby & J.W. Grimes]. Flowers usually 5-merous, homomorphic, sessile; calyx gamosepalous, cylindrical to campanulate; corolla gamopetalous, 5-lobed, tubular to funnel shaped; stamens 15-130; intrastaminal disc with a crenately lobed rim (absent in a few pluripinnate species); pollen in 16, 30-celled polyads; ovary sessile or almost so, (7) 8-17-ovulate. Fruits dehiscent through one or both margins, sessile, sometimes attenuate to a pseudo-stipe, flat-compressed or turgid, straight, falcate to slightly falcate, sometimes twisted (Fig. 266J, K View Figure 266 ). Seeds flattened, discoid, veined or narrowly winged; testa papery, thin, smooth or wrinkled; pleurogram absent.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Included species and geographic distribution.

ca. 60 species from the Neotropics, distributed from Mexico to north-east Argentina, including the Caribbean, with the greatest diversity in Central America, Colombia, the Guianas and north-west Amazon (Fig. 275 View Figure 275 ).

Ecology.

Typically plants from wet forest understories, occurring in riparian forests and coastal habitats. They can extend from sea level mangroves up to 750 m elevation, in a few cases reaching 2600 m in northern Andean forests ( Rico 1994; Barneby and Grimes 1997; Ståhl et al. 2010).

Etymology.

From the Greek Zygo referring to the single pair of joined pinnae and stamen filaments that are partially fused (Lewis and Rico Arce 2005).

Human uses.

As nitrogen fixers, Zygia species are used for recovery of degraded areas, and they are used for carpentry in civil constructions and furniture making ( Sprent 2001; Lewis and Rico Arce 2005; Ribeiro et al. 2009).

Notes.

Zygia was described by Browne (1756) based mainly on fruit characters. However, Bentham (1875) included Zygia as a section of his broadly circumscribed Pithecellobium Mart., using characters from leaves and flowers. Zygia was later reinstated as a genus by Fawcett and Rendle (1920) with Z. latifolia as the type species.

The taxonomic limits of Zygia and Marmaroxylon have been controversial, the two having been considered synonyms ( Nielsen 1981a; Barneby and Grimes 1997) or as distinct genera ( Rico-Arce 1991; Lewis and Rico Arce 2005). However, molecular phylogenetic studies ( Ferm et al. 2019) have clearly shown that species with multipinnate leaves ( Marmaroxylon ) are found intermixed with species with unipinnate leaves ( Zygia ) thus supporting the subsuming of Marmaroxylon in Zygia .

Phylogenetic studies also demonstrate the polyphyly of Zygia (including Marmaroxylon ), but the taxonomy still needs to be updated (Ferm et al. in prep.). The non-cauliflorous and multipinnate-leaved Zygia (= Marmaroxylon ) Marmaroxylon ocumarensis is resolved as sister to Macrosamanea ( Ferm et al. 2019; Ringelberg et al. 2022) and could be transferred to this genus ( Ringelberg et al. 2022). Similarly, M. magdalenae Killip ex L. Rico [treated as a synonym of Z. ocumarensis by Barneby and Grimes (1997)] is nested in Jupunba ( Ferm et al. 2019). Finally, Zygia inundata (Ducke) H.C. Lima ex Barneby & J.W. Grimes and Z. sabatieri Barneby & J.W. Grimes are sister to Inga , rather than grouping with the main Zygia clade. Both species have dehiscent fruits, which distinguish them from Inga , which has indehiscent fruits.

Taxonomic references.

Barneby and Grimes (1997); Bentham (1875); Britton and Killip (1936); Britton and Rose (1928), Ferm et al. (2019); Lewis and Rico Arce (2005); Ribeiro et al. (1999); Rico-Arce (1991); Rico (1994); Ståhl et al. (2010).

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Fabales

Family

Fabaceae

SubFamily

Caesalpinioideae

Tribe

Archidendron