Libidibia (DC.) Schltdl., Linnaea 5: 192. 1830.

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
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scientific name	Libidibia (DC.) Schltdl., Linnaea 5: 192. 1830.
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Treatment

Libidibia (DC.) Schltdl., Linnaea 5: 192. 1830. View in CoL

Figs 36 View Figure 36 , 38 View Figure 38 , 42 View Figure 42

Caesalpinia sect. Libidibia DC., Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 2: 483. 1825. Type: Caesalpinia coriaria (Jacq.) Willd. [≡ Poinciana coriaria Jacq. (≡ Libidibia coriaria (Jacq.) Schltdl.)]

Stahlia Bello, Anal. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 10: 255. 1881. Type: Stahlia maritima Bello [= Libidibia monosperma (Tul.) Gagnon & G.P. Lewis]

Type.

Libidibia coriaria (Jacq.) Schltdl. [≡ Poinciana coriaria Jacq.]

Description.

Small to medium-sized or large unarmed trees; bark hard, smooth, with a patchwork of shades of grey, white, and pale green, often referred to as snake bark [except in L. coriaria and L. monosperma (Tul.) Gagnon & G.P. Lewis, where it is rough and fissured]. Stipules caducous or lacking (not seen). Leaves bipinnate, rarely pinnate ( L. monosperma ); bipinnate leaves with 2-10 pairs of opposite pinnae plus a single terminal pinna and 3-28(30) pairs of opposite leaflets per pinna; pinnate leaves with 4-6 pairs of opposite to subopposite leaflets; leaflets eglandular or with subsessile gland dots on the undersurface of the blades, on either side of the midvein. Inflorescence a terminal or axillary raceme or panicle, sometimes corymbose. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic; hypanthium usually not persistent as the fruit matures; sepals 5, caducous, the lower sepal slightly longer and cucullate in bud; petals 5, free, yellow, or white, the median petal sometimes flecked or blotched orange or red; stamens 10, free, pubescent on the lower half of the filaments, eglandular [except for L. ferrea (Mart. ex Tul.) L.P. Queiroz, which has stipitate glands]; ovary eglandular. Fruit coriaceous to woody, straight (contorted in L. coriaria ), indehiscent, eglandular, glabrous, black (red and somewhat fleshy in L. monosperma ). Seeds somewhat laterally compressed.

Chromosome number.

2 n = 24 [ L. coriaria , L. ferrea , L. paraguariensis (D. Parodi) G.P. Lewis, L. punctata (Willd.) Britton], and 2 n = 48 ( L. ferrea ) ( Fedorov 1969; Beltrão and Guerrera 1990; Cangiano and Bernadello 2005).

Included species and geographic distribution.

Ten taxa in seven species in the Neotropics. One species ( L. monosperma , previously in the monospecific genus Stahlia ) is endemic to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The other species are found across a circum-Amazonian arc of dry forests and adjacent cerrado vegetation, across the Andes, as well as throughout Central America (Fig. 42 View Figure 42 ).

Ecology.

Seasonally dry tropical forests and thorn scrub (including Brazilian Caatinga) and savanna woodlands. Libidibia monosperma occurs along the margins of mangrove swamps and in marshy deltas, in drier edaphic conditions.

Etymology.

The name Libidibia is derived from the vernacular name ‘libi-dibi’ or ‘divi-divi’ used for some species.

Human uses.

Libidibia species are widely used as ornamental park and street trees. Their fruits are rich in tannin and used commercially in the tanning industry and sometimes used for animal fodder, ink and local medicines. The wood and timber are prized in turnery and for parts of guitars and violins, as well as for decorative inlay and cabinet work. Some species are used in heavy construction (railway sleepers, beams, bridge supports), for tool handles and as firewood ( Lewis 2005b).

Notes.

The genus needs revising; other species are perhaps waiting to be discovered and described, both in the field and in herbaria ( Gagnon et al. 2016).

Taxonomic references.

Barreto Valdés (2013); Borges et al. (2012); Britton (1927); Britton and Rose (1930); Burkart (1936, as Caesalpinia melanocarpa Griseb.); Gagnon et al. (2016); Lewis (2005b); Little and Wadsworth (1964); Macbride (1943); Queiroz (2009); Ulibarri (1996); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (1995).