Dipteryx

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Fabales

Familia: Fabaceae
Subfamilia: Faboideae
Tribus: Dipterygeae
Genus: Dipteryx
Species: D. alata – D. charapilla – D. ferrea – D. lacunifera – D. magnifica – D. micrantha – D. odorata – D. oleifera – D. polyphylla – D. punctata – D. rosea – D. speciosa – D. tetraphylla
Source(s) of checklist:

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Dipteryx in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Nov 24. Reference page.

Name

Dipteryx Schreb., 1791
Synonyms

Baryosma Gaertn.
Coumarouna Aubl.
Cumaruna J.F.Gmel.
Heinzia Scop.
Oleiocarpon Dwyer

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Central & S. Tropical America
Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Schreber, J.C.D.v. 1791. Genera Plantarum Eorumque Characteres Naturales Secundum Numerum, Figuram, Situm, & Proportionem Omnium Fructificationis Partium. Ed. 8 [a]. Vol. 2. Frankfurt am Main. online at Gallica Reference page. : 2: 485

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Dipteryx in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Nov 24. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Dipteryx. Published online. Accessed: Nov 24 2020.
Tropicos.org 2020. Dipteryx. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Nov 24.
Catalogue of Life: 2020 Annual Checklist

Vernacular names

Dipteryx is a genus containing a number of species of large trees and possibly shrubs. It belongs to the "papilionoid" subfamily – Faboideae – of the family Fabaceae. This genus is native to South and Central America and the Caribbean. Formerly, the related genus Taralea was included in Dipteryx.

Description

The largest members of Dipteryx are canopy-emergent trees of tropical rainforests. The tonka bean (D. odorata) is grown for its fragrant seeds. baru (D. alata) is the only species which found in drier, seasonal areas, growing in the cerrado of Brazil; its fruit and seeds are used as food and fodder. Several species are used for timber, of which almendro (D. oleifera) wood is considered desirable, especially locally.[1][2]

Dipteryx can be distinguished from other members of the Dipterygeae by its compound leaves with asymmetric leaflets caused due to an eccentric primary vein, a drupaceous fruit, seeds with a leathery skin, a hilum in a lateral or subapical position and a rugose embryo with a conspicuous plumule.[3]
Taxonomy

The number of recognised species of Dipteryx has changed over the years.

The genus was previously known as Coumarouna. In 1934 Walter Adolpho Ducke split this genus into two, on the basis of the alternate leaflets, among other characters, of Dipteryx. He used two older, conserved names published previously: Taralea and Dipteryx. Although Taralea was accepted, some taxonomists did not recognise Dipteryx as the correct name for the genus until at least the mid-1940s.[4]

In the most recent monograph on the genus, A Checklist of the Dipterygeae species by the Brazilian researcher Haroldo Cavalcante de Lima in 1989, he synonymised a number of species, accepting nine species in the genus.[5] His taxonomy was accepted by ILDIS (2005)[5] but not noticed or followed by US databases, i.e. in GRIN (2005),[6] the entry on Dipteryx in the Contribución al conocimiento de las leguminosas Colombianas by C. Barbosa (1994),[7] the IUCN (1998)[8] based on World List of Threatened Trees by Oldfield et al. (1998),[9] or the Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru (1993) which was built using the Tropicos database by the Missouri Botanical Garden.[10] In 1999 the entry on Dipteryx in the Flora of the Venezuelan Guyana by de Lima was published.[11]

The northernmost taxon Dipteryx panamensis, notable as being the only species listed on CITES since 2003 and therefore subject to export controls,[2][7] was synonymised with the neglected but older name D. oleifera by de Lima in 1989, but this move was only followed by ILDIS[5] and one or two of articles on the species over the years, all other floras, databases and publications using the name D. panamensis.[2] In 2011, however, the Report of the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants: 62 recommended D. oleifera by treated as validly published, and de Lima's synonymy for this taxon has been accepted by many.[10][12][13]

By 2010, in the Catálogo de Plantas e Fungos do Brasil, de Lima had changed his mind and re-recognised two of Brazilian taxa he had earlier considered synonyms in 1989, although not all.[14][15]
Species

There are 11 species accepted by the lead expert, de Lima, at present:

Dipteryx alata Vogel—Baru
Dipteryx charapilla (J.F.Macbr.) Ducke was synonymised to D. rosea in 1989, but is now recognised as an independent species again.
Dipteryx ferrea (Ducke) Ducke was synonymised to D. micrantha in 1989, but is now recognised as an independent species again.
Dipteryx lacunifera Ducke
Dipteryx magnifica (Ducke) Ducke
Dipteryx micrantha Harms
Dipteryx odorata (Aubl.) Willd.—Tonka Bean
Dipteryx oleifera Benth.—Almendro
Dipteryx polyphylla (Huber) Ducke
Dipteryx punctata (S.F.Blake) Amshoff
Dipteryx rosea Spruce ex Benth.
Dipteryx tetraphylla Spruce ex Benth. was synonymised to D. odorata

References

Petruzzello, Melissa. "Almendro - Tree". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
Stella Fließwasser (8 October 2014). Dipteryx oleifera Factsheet (PDF) (Report). Bundesambt für Naturschutz. p. 1-6. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
Gonçalves Leite V, Freitas Mansano V, Pádua Teixeira S (2014). "Floral ontogeny in Dipterygeae (Fabaceae) reveals new insights into one of the earliest branching tribes in papilionoid legumes". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 174 (4): 529–550. doi:10.1111/boj.12158.
Macbride, James Francis (1943). "Flora of Peru". Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History, Botanical Series. 13 (3/1): 251. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
"ILDIS LegumeWeb entry for Dipteryx". International Legume Database & Information Service. Cardiff School of Computer Science & Informatics. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
USDA; ARS; National Genetic Resources Program. "GRIN species records of Dipteryx". Germplasm Resources Information Network—(GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
USDA; ARS; National Genetic Resources Program (13 April 2004). "GRIN species records of Dipteryx panamensis". Germplasm Resources Information Network—(GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Archived from the original on 19 November 2004. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). "Dipteryx charapilla". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 1998: e.T36892A10019706. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T36892A10019706.en.
"Red Lists - Global Trees". Global Trees Campaign. Fauna & Flora International and Botanic Gardens Conservation International. 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
"Dipteryx Schreb". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden. 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
de Lima, Haroldo Cavalcante; Lima, I.B. (19 February 2015). "Dipteryx Schreb". Dipteryx in Lista de Espécies da Flora do Brasil (in Portuguese). Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
USDA; ARS; National Genetic Resources Program (2011). "GRIN species records of Dipteryx oleifera Benth". Germplasm Resources Information Network—(GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
USDA; ARS; National Genetic Resources Program. "GRIN species records of Dipteryx". Germplasm Resources Information Network—(GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
"Name - Dipteryx charapilla (J.F. Macbr.) Ducke". Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.

Forzza, Rafaela Campostrini; Leitman, Paula Moraes; et al. (11 August 2010). Catálogo de Plantas e Fungos do Brasil, volume 2 (PDF) (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Andrea Jakobsson Estúdio, Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. p. 1033. ISBN 978-85-88742-43-7.

Further reading
Hanson, Thor (2015). The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465048724.