Swartzia Explained

Swartzia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It was named in honor of Swedish botanist Olof Swartz and contains about 200 species. Swartzia is restricted in its geographical distribution to the New World Tropics, where it occurs primarily in lowland rainforests, but also in savannas, pre-montane forests, and tropical dry forests. While it can be found throughout the wet lowlands from Mexico and the Caribbean islands to southern Brazil and Bolivia, Swartzia is most abundant and species-rich in Amazonia, where 10–20 species may co-occur at a single site. The species of Swartzia are mostly trees, ranging from small understory treelets to large canopy emergents. Some species, especially in savannas, are mult-stemmed shrubs.

Fossil record

Many Swartzia fossils from the middle Eocene epoch are known from the United States. 5 fossil dehiscent seed pods and 50 fossil leaflets have been described from the Warman and Lawrence clay pits in Weakley and the Henry Counties, Tennessee. In addition 6 leaflets have been described from the New Lawrence and Miller clay pits in Henry County, Tennessee.[1]

List of species

More than 200 species have been described:[2] [3]

Recent phylogenetic analyses have revealed several well-supported clades within Swartzia that roughly correspond to previously-erected sections and series in the genus.[7]

Nomina dubia

The following species may or may not be valid:[8]

External links

Notes and References

  1. The Fossil History of Leguminosae from the Eocene of Southeastern North America by Patrick S. Herendeen, Advances in Legume Systematics: Part 4, The Fossil Record, Ed. P.S. Herendeen & Dilcher, 1992, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
  2. Web site: ILDIS LegumeWeb entry for Swartzia . . International Legume Database & Information Service . Cardiff School of Computer Science & Informatics . 30 January 2014 .
  3. Web site: GRIN species records of Swartzia . USDA . USDA . ARS . Agricultural Research Service . National Genetic Resources Program . Germplasm Resources Information Network—(GRIN) [Online Database] . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland . 30 January 2014 .
  4. Torke BM . 2007 . Three new species of Swartzia (Leguminosae–Papilionoideae) from northern South America . . 153 . 3 . 343–355 . 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2007.00587.x . free .
  5. Torke BM . 2007 . New Combinations and Species-level Synonyms in Swartzia (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae) . . 17 . 1 . 110–119 . 10.3417/1055-3177(2007)17[110:NCASSI]2.0.CO;2 .
  6. Book: Aguirre-Bravo C, Villa-Salas AB . Partnerships for Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management: Fifth Mexico–U. S. Biennial Symposium . 16 April 2011 . June 1996 . DIANE Publishing . 978-0-7881-2978-0 . 58–68 .
  7. Torke BM, Schaal BA . 2008 . Molecular phylogenetics of the species-rich neotropical genus Swartzia (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) and related genera of the swartzioid clade . . 95 . 2 . 215–228 . 10.3732/ajb.95.2.215. 21632346 .
  8. Web site: The Plant List entry for Swartzia . . . . 31 January 2014 .

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