Falcataria (I.C.Nielsen) Barneby & J.W.Grimes

First published in Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74(1): 253 (1996)
This genus is accepted
The native range of this genus is E. Malesia to Santa Cruz Islands.

Descriptions

Timothy M. A. Utteridge and Laura V. S. Jennings (2022). Trees of New Guinea. Kew Publishing. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Distribution
Following Brown et al. (2011), a small genus of three species in eastern Malesia and northern Australia. Two species are found in New Guinea: Falcataria moluccana (Miq.) Barneby & J.W.Grimes widespread from the Moluccas to the Solomon Islands (and with three, or more, subspecies in the region), and F. pullenii (Verdc.) Gill.K.Br., D.J.Murphy & Ladiges restricted to south-eastern Papua New Guinea. Falcataria was formerly placed in both Albizia and Paraserianthes; the latter is now considered to be not native in New Guinea (though it may be a cultivated tree), but rather a monospecific genus with two subspecies in south-west Western Australia (P. lophantha (Willd.) I.C.Nielsen subsp. lophantha), and from Sumatra to Flores (P. lophantha subsp. montana (Jungh.) I.C.Nielsen).
Morphology General Habit
Trees to 40 m tall with a spreading crown. Stipules linear or filiform, caducous
Morphology Leaves
Leaves bipinnate, petioles with an oval gland 2–3 cm from the base, round glands present between distal leaflets of the pinnae, leaflets opposite, sessile, slightly falcate, midrib strongly asymmetric. Inflorescences pedunculate spikes aggregated into panicles in upper axils
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers bisexual, 5-merous, sessile, subtended by a pair of caducous bracts; calyx cupular, lobed for <½ its length, lobes deltoid; corolla funnel-shaped, sericeous on outer surface, lobed for at least ½ its length, lobes ovate to oblong, becoming reflexed with age; stamens numerous (up to 70 in F. pullenii), fused into a tube equal to or longer than corolla tube; ovary shortly stipitate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit chartaceous, oblong, flattened, puberulous, becoming glabrescent, winged along ventral suture
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds oblong, flat, with a pleurogram
Ecology
In New Guinea, Falcataria is known from primary and secondary rain forests, often beside rivers or on sandy soils, and reaching montane habitats such as Dacrydium and Nothofagus forests; between sea level and 2300 m. Falcataria pullenii is endemic to Central Province, Papua New Guinea and is found in hilly rain forest on poor sandy or stony soils, between 60–120 m.
Recognition
Falcataria has a petiole with an oval gland and pinnae with glands only between the upper pairs of leaflets, flowers in a short spike or collections of spikes (the flowers are cream to yellow-brown with cream stamens), and flattened pods with a narrow wing along one margin (recorded as being yellowish red-brown when dry).
[TONG]

Legumes of the World. Edited by G. Lewis, B. Schrire, B. MacKinder & M. Lock. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (2005)

Note

Nielsen (1981a) recognised 21 genera in Ingeae (Table 7), although 4 were not given generic names, but were referred to as ‘Gen. A’ to ‘Gen. D’. He recognised the genus Marmaroxylon, although without a generic number, so that the tribe, to the casual observer, appeared to contain only 20 genera. The genus Punjuba appended by Nielsen (1981a) under “genera and species of unknown affinity” is here treated as a synonym of Abarema, following Barneby & Grimes (1996), although we suggest that this may be reinstated as a good genus in the future. Nielsen (1981a) also included Pithecellobium incuriale (Vell.) Benth. as a “species of unknown affinity” but this is now placed in Leucochloron Barneby & Grimes (1996).

Polhill (1994) increased the number of genera of Ingeae to 25 (Table 7). He recognised Nielsen’s ‘Gen. A’ as Paraserianthes I.C.Nielsen, ‘Gen. B’ as Archidendropsis I.C.Nielsen, ‘Gen. C’ as Pararchidendron I.C.Nielsen, and ‘Gen. D’ as Macrosamanea Britton & Rose ex Britton & Killip. He placed Faidherbia in Ingeae for the first time, reinstated Cathormion, Samanea and Chloroleucon, and recognised the monospecific Obolinga Barneby (subsequently subsumed into Cojoba by Barneby & Grimes, 1997). Zapoteca, a segregate of Calliandra described by Hernández (1986), was also added by Polhill (1994). Klugiodendron, recognised by Nielsen (1981a), was considered a synonym of Abarema by Polhill (1994), and Affonsea was placed as a synonym of Inga, a position later confirmed by Pennington (1997).

The present treatment of Ingeae recognises 36 genera (24 of which are New World endemics) and (935)–951–(966) species (Fig. 27). We follow Barneby & Grimes (1997) in placing Obolinga as a synonym of Cojoba. Eight genera: Blanchetiodendron, Ebenopsis, Hesperalbizia, Hydrochorea, Leucochloron, Painteria, Pseudosamanea, and Sphinga, have either been reinstated or described as new since 1994 (Barneby & Grimes, 1996). Paraserianthes section Falcataria was raised to generic status as Falcataria (I.C.Nielsen) Barneby & Grimes (1996). Balizia Barneby & Grimes (1996) is considered a synonym of Albizia following Rico Arce (1999). Guinetia L.Rico & M.Sousa was described as new (Rico Arce et al., 1999, publ. 2000), and Viguieranthus Villiers in 2002.

Clarification of generic relationships within tribe Ingeae still suffers from a paucity of molecular data, partly due to a lack of appropriate material for DNA extraction of the recently described and reinstated genera. Luckow et al. (2000) included four ingoid genera in their analysis of the basal genera of Mimosoideae. These formed a group together with Faidherbia (then still considered a member of tribe Acacieae, although moved to Ingeae by Polhill (1994)). Barneby & Grimes (1996) concentrating on neotropical taxa, divided American ingoids into five informal alliances: the Abarema-, Samanea-, Chloroleucon-, Pithecellobium- and Inga- alliances. Genera of uncertain position within their system included Albizia, Enterolobium and Cedrelinga. Lysiloma was considered as intermediate between tribes Ingeae and Acacieae. Luckow et al. (2003) carried out a phylogenetic analysis of the Mimosoideae using chloroplast DNA sequence data. They treated sixteen of the 36 ingoid genera recognised in this account, including Faidherbia, but concluded that relationships within the Ingeae are generally unresolved and that, with only a few exceptions, clades within the ingoid part of their topology were not strongly supported. Albizia proved to be polyphyletic, supporting the findings of Grimes (1999).

Any new classification of the Ingeae will require sampling of all the genera not included by Luckow et al. (2003) and more extensive sampling of the larger and putatively non-monophyletic genera. Relationships between ingoid genera and the various elements of a polyphyletic Acacia have still to be resolved, although Luckow et al. (2003) have an Acacia subgenus Phyllodineae clade nested within the Ingeae, suggesting that at least part of Acacia sens. lat. (the Australian phyllodinous acacias) might be included within the Ingeae in the future, or that the Ingeae, as currently circumscribed, may have to be broken up into several distinct suprageneric taxa. Such suggestions are premature as 20 ingoid genera, including Abarema, Archidendron, Pithecellobium, Zygia and the largely Madagascan Viguieranthus have not yet been included in molecular analyses.

Habit
Trees
Ecology
Tropical rain forest, and coastal 'dry rain forest', 0-2300 m
Distribution
Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, 1 sp. endemic to Australia (Queensland), 1 sp. cultivated in the New World
[LOWO]

Uses

Use
Used in reforestation for its rapid growth, as shade trees (cocoa and coffee), ornamentals, for wood (pulp, crates and light furniture), fibre (bark), human food (green pods), firewood and charcoal; F. moluccana (Miq.) Barneby & J.W.Grimes (batai, peacocks plume, white albizia, jeungjing) , is an invasive weed
[LOWO]

Sources

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
  • Legumes of the World Online

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Trees of New Guinea

    • Trees of New Guinea
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • World Checklist of Vascular plants (WCVP)

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0