49 SISSOA. 
SUBGEUNS I.—SISSOA, 
= 
li s 
Flowers with standard-blade erect; wings cuneate, rarely truncate, very rarely 
slightly hastate at junction of blade and claw; keel-petals cuneate or hastate; style 
cylindric, stout, often very short; stamens normally monadelphous, 
The large primary group Sissoa is а fairly natural subdivision, and it can hardly be said that any 
of the groups that go to compose it, if we except the group Sisso itself, bear a striking resemblance to 
any of the groups of Amerimnon. In the case of the exception mentioned, there is a curious similarity 
between Sissoo and the Latifoliae, since both have very large epicalycine bracteoles, quite covering the 
calyx till such time as they fall off. But except for this one character, and for the fact that, like 
D. latifolia, D. Sissoo is a Dalbergia and is а tree, the affinity between the two, so generally claimed 
in botanical treatises, is imaginary rather than real. The only group in which the best artificial 
character, that of cuneate wing-blades, breaks down is in the group Mimosoides, where the species in other 
respects are decisively Triptolemeae and have no great affinity with any species in Amerimnon. The 
pods of one of the groups, Parviflorae, are, it is true, very like the pods of the groups JMenoeides and 
Reniformes, but it is possible that similarity of pod throughout the genus is a feature more extrinsic 
than intrinsic; it is one that, to say the least, cannot be relied on as а taxonomic guide, and when the 
sum total of the characters exhibited by the various Dalbergias is considered, is one that it would be safer 
to neglect entirely than to treat as crucial. It is, however, one that it is convenient to use, with care, as 
a subordinate aid in classification. As an aid to specific identification, it is, perhaps because it is trivial, of 
considerable value. 
§ 1. TRIPTOLEMEA—Flowers usually minute, always very small; epicalycine 
bracteoles often persistent or subpersistent; inflorescence usually distinctly cymose; 
claws of all petals, especially of the standard, very short; style very short. 
The section Triptolemea is a useful one to recognise within the wider group Sissoa, but it is not 
naturally separable from the section Podiopetalum, since the two pass into each other at various points; 
nor is it even easily artificially distinguished because every individual character breaks down. The best 
marks of a Triptolemea are the short style, the smaller flowers and persistent bracteoles, and the very 
short standard-claw. The flowers of some of the Podiopetala, however, are as small as those of some 
genuine Triptolemeae; most striking deviation of all, the style of D. Sissoo, the largest flowered of the 
Podiopetala, is short as in the Triptolemene, 
q 1. Nummoularieae.—Po4  suborbicular, thickened throughout, and more or less 
distinctly margined ; climbers, . 
This is not quite a natural group, owing to the great difference in the foliage of the two members. 
Except as regards the pod, D. Albertisii seems very nearly related to D. parviflora of the Parviflorae 
and to D. rimosa of the Rimosae ; while, except as regards its pod, D. Beccari is obviously very сеп 
related to the group Phyllanthoides. As regards pod, on the other hand, both species must be, to those who 
continue to recognise the artificial and unnecessary genus Evastaphyllum, members of that genus.* The 
remaining Foastaphylla are African and American, and are referable to -Amerinnon § Dalbergaria, not 
to Sissoa j it is of course just possible, since the stamens of D. Albertisii are not yet known, that it is may 
have to be referred to that section; but it is unlikely, because the large terminal panicles of Жашны» 
cymes are во thoroughly in keeping with the characteristics of the remaining Triptolemeae. The Ecastaphull 
of the section $ Dalbergaria form a natural group to which the name Monetarieae may he applied. = 
* Spelling more properly Ecastophyllum or, with purists, Hecastophyllum, 
