Caesalpinioideae

Caesalpinioideae
Dr. B. KARUNAI SELVI
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BOTANY
V.V.VANNIAPERUMAL COLLEGE FOR WOMEN
VIRUDHUNAGAR- 626 001
TAMIL NADU, INDIA
karunaiselvi@vvvcollege.org

Caesalpinioideae
 Members are mostly tropical and subtropical trees and
shrubs
 Comprising about 150 genera and 2,700 species
 It is a subfamily, placed in the large family
Fabaceae or Leguminosae
 Its name is formed from the generic name Caesalpinia
 It is known also as the peacock flower subfamily.
 Theyare mainly trees distributed in the tropics and
subtropics

Caesalpinia pulcherrima
 Peacock flower
 Dwarf poinciana.
 Prickly shrub or
 small tree with pinnate
leaves.
 This plant grows only to a
height of about 3 meters
 Retains its leaves
throughout the year
 Blooms continuously.
 Flowers - appear in clusters
on long erect stems
 Have exceptionally long
stamens
 Prominent pistil which
protrudes from the center.
 The most common color is
red-orange,
 But one variety has pure
yellow flowers.

Vegetative characters
Habit – Tree and Shrub
 It shows great variation
in habit i.e. trees
 Delonix regia,
Tamarindus,
Caesalpinia,
Saraca indica,
Cassia fistula,
Bauhinia
 Cassia sophera & Cassia
auriculata - Shrub
 C. occidentalis – under
shrub
 C. tora - Annual herb
 Bauhinia vahlii - Woody
climber
 Parkinsonia - Xerophyte

HABIT - SHRUB

Root: Tap root and branched.
Stem:
 Erect
 Woody
 Herbaceous
 Cylindrical
 Solid
 Branched
 Glabrous
 Covered with prickles and
spines (eg. Parkinsonia).

Leaf
 Compound
 Petiolate
 Alternate
 Leafbase pulvinate
 Unipinnate (Cassia, Tamarindus),
 Bipinnate (Delonix, Caesalpinia)
 Rarely simple
 Stipulate.
 In Bauhinia the leaf is deeply
emarginated
Bauhinia

Inflorescence: Racemose.

 Slightly perigynous
 Variously coloured
 Showy – Large/Small
 Pentamerous
Floral characters
Flower
 Bisexual
 Complete
 Pedicellate
 Bracteate
 Irregular
 Zygomorphic
 Hermaphrodite

Labeled Flower

Calyx
 Sepals 5 - Polysepalous
 Odd sepal - larger, hooded and anterior in position
 Imbricate aestivation
 In Tamarindus the two posterior sepals are united
 Yellow in Collour
 Often petaloid

Corolla
 Petals 5 - Polypetalous
 Ascendingly imbricate aestivation
 Odd petal - smaller, clawed and posterior in
position
 Petals are absent in Saraca

Corolla
 In Tamarindus there are only three posterior
petals
 Copaifera saraca the petals are totally
reduced; free, ascending imbricate aestivation,
posterior petal is innermost.

Androecium
 Stamens 10, rarely connate
 Anthers – dithecous, two celled, basifixed
 Filaments are free and unequal
 Dehisce by longitudinal slits or by pores
 Introrse.

 Reduction in number of stamens by the
formation of staminodes.
 In Cassia there are 3 posterior staminodes.
 Saraca 3-8 stamens
 Tamarindus only 3 stamens and monadelphous

Gynoecium
 Monocarpellary
 Ovary superior or slightly inferior
 Ovary - Unilocular
 Marginal placentation
 Straight or curved
 Style long
 Stigma simple/ Capitate

 Fruit: Legume
Pod
 Seed : Non-endospermic
Exalbuminous
 Pollination: Entomophilous.

Delonix regia
 Royal poinciana, flame tree, May Flower.
 Small to mid-sized tree, with a flat to umbrella-
shaped canopy and brilliant, orange-red flowers.
 Gulmohar gets 30-40 ft tall, but its elegant wide-
spreading umbrella-like canopy can be wider
than its height.
 Gumohar is naturalized in India and is widely
cultivated as a street tree.

Cassia fistula
 A tropical ornamental tree with a trunk
consisting of hard reddish wood, growing up to
40 feet tall.
 The wood is hard and heavy; it is used for
cabinet, inlay work, etc.
 It has showy racemes, up to 2" long, with bright,
yellow, fragrant flowers.
 These flowers are attractive to bees and
butterflies

Bauhinia variegata
 Large and diverse tropical and subtropical genus comprising
approximately 300 species,
 Most of them possess typical bi-lobed leaves.
 The Purple Orchid Tree is an exotic tropical tree that blooms
over a long period of time.
 The petals of Bauhinia variegata are broad and overlap - it
never open fully flat.
 The flowers are 12-inch-long, slender, brown, flat seed pods
 Bauhinia purpurea can reach up to 20 feet tall and have a 25
foot crown.

Parkinsonia aculeata
 Spiny shrub
 Jerusalem thorn is a small tree growing to 25
ft tall with a short trunk
 Graceful, spreading, sometimes weeping,
crown to 20 ft wide.
 Flowers are yellow and fragrant, 2 cm in
diameter, growing from a long slender stalk in
groups of 8-10.

Saraca asoca
 Saraca asoca is an evergreen shrub or small tree
 They have a dense, spreading crown of horizontal
branches;
 It can grow up to 10 metres tall.
 Calyx developed into a tubular,
 Corolla-like structure, subtended by two calyx-like
bracts;
 Stamens borne on the margin of the calyx; pistil united
below to one side of the calyx tube.

Tamarindus indica
 Tamarind is a large, evergreen tree.
 24 m in height and 7 m in girth.
 The most useful part is the pod (also called the fruit).
 Pods are 7.5–20 cm long, 2.5 cm broad and 1 cm
thick.
 Constricted between the seeds, slightly curved,
brownish-ash coloured, scurfy.
 The outermost covering of the pod is fragile and
easily separable

References
 https://www.pitchandikulam-herbarium.org/contents/description-flower.php?id=10
 https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Cassia-fistula-seeds-Golden-Shower-
Tree_60771446740.html
 http://treeworldwholesale.com/en/yellow-flower/252-parkinsonia-aculeata.html
 https://toptropicals.com/html/toptropicals/articles/trees/saraca.htm
 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/352899320805835185/
 http://tropical.theferns.info/image.php?id=Tamarindus+indica
 https://garden.org/plants/view/87781/Orchid-Tree-Bauhinia-purpurea/
 https://www.biologydiscussion.com/plants/flowering-plants

Caesalpinioideae

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Caesalpinioideae