| # The genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae |

L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz

### Ecuadendron D.A. Neill

Type species: E. acosta-solisianum D.A. Neill.

Habit and leaf form. Trees (to 30 high, the light brown bark peeling in flakes, the slash without any particular odour); without specialized ‘short shoots’; unarmed.

The leaves compound; pinnate (bijugate); paripinnate. The leaflets few per leaf (4); eglandular, entire, elliptic and shortly acuminate, opposite or sub-opposite; petiolulate; 5–7 mm long, with markedly twisted petiolules (pulvinulate throughout their length and twisted or folded 180 degrees, disposing the leaflets resupinate in a single plane); symmetrical or nearly so (only slightly inequilateral); pinnately veined, with a predominant ‘midrib’. Stipules irregularly caducous, but at least some present, persistent and conspicuous in mature leaves; covering the axillary buds, falcate-subulate; not conspicuously nerved, becoming somewhat lignified, not connate. Stipels probably absent.

Inflorescence and floral morphology. The inflorescences ramuligerous or axillary; unbranched; pedunculate, slender, up to 2 m long, simple racemes. The flowers with short pedicels, not distichous (spirally arranged with one flower at each node, but the internodes variable in length and the nodes somtimes very close together). Bracts absent at anthesis. Bracteoles present; small, not enclosing the flower buds (6–8 mm long); persistent beyond anthesis; connate (forming a 2-lobed cup enclosing the base of the hypanthium).

The flowers fairly large (about 4 cm long, probably bat-pollinated); hermaphrodite; very irregular; not pentamerous throughout; departing from pentamery in the calyx and in the androecium; coloured (the hypanthium and calyx rose to brick-red). Hypanthium present; quite long (about 1 cm long); broadly tubular, or cupular. The perianth comprising distinct calyx and corolla. Calyx 4; covering the rest of the flower in bud; polysepalous; more or less regular; members cochleariform, strongly imbricate. Corolla slightly irregular; 5; without greatly reduced members. Well developed petals 5 (clavate, apically broadly rounded, the dorsal and lateral menbers less thickened basally than the internal vexillum). Corolla polypetalous. Petals broadly clawed; imbricate; imbricate-ascending. Disk absent. The androecium comprising 9 members; somewhat declinate; with united members (all connate basally into a cupular structure adnate to the hypanthium); members markedly unequal; including staminodia (these alternating with the fertile stamens and comprising much shorter filaments without anthers). The staminodia 4. Fertile stamens 5. Anthers attached well above the base of the connective; dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary velutious, stipitate; eccentric, with the stipe adnate. Stigma not dilated (punctiform and terminating the slender, recurving style). Ovules few to numerous (4–9 or more).

Fruit, seed and seedling. Fruit a two-valved pod; pendulous from elongate peduncles, 20–25 cm long and 4–5 cm wide, straight; not internally septate; without markedly twisting or enrolling valves; becoming woody. The mature valves with conspicuous, prominent, raised venation; conspicuous venation not predominantly longitudinal (obliquely transversely ridged). Seeds non-endospermic; not arillate.

Transverse section of lamina. Mesophyll secretory cavities probably absent.

Wood anatomy. Wood ‘dense and very hard’.

Pollen ultrastructure. Tectum reticulate; verrucose reticulate. Length of colpi greater than one half pole to pole distance.

Species number and distribution. 1 species (E. costa-solisianum). Western Ecuador, on the lower foothills of the Andes.

Tribe. Detarieae; Amherstieae clade of Bruneau et al. (2008) (cf. Brownea).

Miscellaneous. Illustrations: • Ecuadendron acosta-solisianum (Neill, 1998).

We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, distributions of character states within any set of taxa, geographical distribution, and classification. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.

Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1993 onwards. The genera of Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae and Swartzieae: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English and French. Version: 4th August 2019. delta-intkey.com’.

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