Coulteria Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 6: 328. 1824.

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

Coulteria Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 6: 328. 1824.

Figs 36 , 56

Guaymasia Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23(5): 322. 1930. Type: Guaymasia pumila Britton & Rose [≡ Coulteria pumila (Britton & Rose) Sotuyo & G.P. Lewis]

Lectotype

(designated by Gagnon et al. 2016). Coulteria mollis Kunth

Description.

Trees or shrubs, unarmed, dioecious. Stipules minute, caducous or lacking. Leaves bipinnate, pinnae in 2-6 opposite to subopposite pairs; leaflets in (2) 4-12 (14) opposite to alternate pairs per pinna, eglandular, glabrous to velvety pubescent. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal raceme. Flowers unisexual, zygomorphic; hypanthium either persisting as a shallow cup or not persistent as the fruit matures; sepals 5, caducous, with a lower glandular-pectinate, cucullate sepal, covering the other 4 in bud; petals 5, yellow, free; staminate flowers with 10 free stamens, filaments pubescent, eglandular; pistillate flower with ovary pubescent or glabrous. Fruit chartaceous to papyraceous, laterally-compressed, oblong to elliptic (occasionally suborbicular), indehiscent (or sometimes opening along one suture), wingless, often persisting to next flowering season, eglandular, glabrous to densely velutinous, 1-6-seeded. Seeds ovate, orbicular, or sub-quadrate, compressed.

Chromosome number.

2 n = 24 ( Mata-Sucre et al. 2020).

Included species and geographic distribution.

Eleven species in Mexico and Central America, one species extending to Belize, Aruba, Cuba, Jamaica and Curaçao, one to Venezuela (including Isla Margarita) and Colombia (Fig. 56 ).

Ecology.

Seasonally dry tropical forest, semi-deciduous and deciduous woodlands, xerophytic scrub forests and thorn scrub, on sandy, calcareous, or metamorphic substrates, some species endemic on limestone.

Etymology.

Named by Kunth for the Irish botanist Thomas Coulter (1793-1846) who collected in central Mexico (1825-1834) and was curator of the herbarium at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

Human uses.

A preferred local firewood in its native range; some species are used as ornamentals in living fences ( Lewis 2005b).

Notes.

Gagnon et al. (2016) presented a preliminary account of the genus Coulteria . This was followed by a synopsis of the genus by Sotuyo et al. (2017). Since 2017, four new species have been published: C. rosalindamedinae R. Torres, A. Saynes & P. Tenorio ( Torres-Colín and Saynes-Vásquez 2020); C. lewisii (originally as " Coulteria lewisiae ") Sotuyo & J.L. Contr. ( Sotuyo and Contreras-Jiménez 2021a; Sotuyo et al. 2021), C. delgadoana Sotuyo & J.L. Contr. ( Sotuyo and Contreras-Jiménez 2021b), and C. sousae Sotuyo, J.L. Contreras & L. Rico ( Sotuyo et al. 2022). Brasilettia sensu Britton & Rose (1930), which included eight species, is a synonym of Coulteria . The genus has a distinctive seed chemistry (the seeds produce substituted phenylalanines derived from a shikimic acid metabolic pathway; Kite and Lewis 1994) and prismatic crystals in ray cells and a chambered axial parenchyma in its wood ( Gasson et al. 2009).

Taxonomic references.

Britton and Rose (1930); Gagnon et al. (2016); Lewis (2005b); Sotuyo and Contreras-Jiménez (2021a, 2021b); Sotuyo et al. (2017, 2021, 2022); Torres-Colín and Saynes-Vásquez (2020); Ulibarri (1996); Zamora Villalobos (2010).

Figures

Figure 36. Fruits of Caesalpinieae A Hererolandia pearsonii (L. Bolus) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Namibia, Sesriem Canyon B Haematoxylum brasiletto H. Karst., Mexico (Lewis 2057) C Lophocarpinia aculeatifolia (Burkart) Burkart, Paraguay, (Fortunato 8650) D Hoffmannseggia arequipensis Ulibarri, Peru, Arequipa, (Hughes et al. 2342) E Balsamocarpon brevifolium Clos, Chile (Baxter et al. DCI 1859) F Zuccagnia punctata Cav., Argentina, Mendoza G Cordeauxia edulis Hemsl., Somalia H Erythrostemon coccineus (G. P. Lewis & J. L. Contr.) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Mexico, Oaxaca (Lewis et al. 1802) I Paubrasilia echinata (Lam.) Gagnon, H. C. Lima & G. P. Lewis, Brazil J Libidibia paraguariensis (Parodi) G. P. Lewis, Bolivia, Santa Cruz (Hughes 2475) K Coulteria mollis Kunth, Guatemala (Lewis et al. 1714) L Cenostigma pluviosum var. cabralianum (G. P. Lewis) Gagnon & G. P. Lewis, Brazil (Lewis et al. 2019) M Pomaria jamesii (Torr. & A. Gray) Walp., USA. Photo credits A AA Dreyer B, I, K, L GP Lewis C RH Fortunato D, H, J CE Hughes E P Baxter F Italo Specogna, Flora mendocina (http: // www. floramendocina. com. ar / clase _ 3 / zuccagnia _ punctata _ p 9558. html) G M Thulin M P Alexander, SEINet Arizona Chapter (https: // swbiodiversity. org / seinet / imagelib / imgdetails. php? imgid = 253949).

Figure 56. Distribution of Coulteria based on quality-controlled digitised herbarium records. See Suppl. material 1 for the source of occurrence data.