A review of the taxonomy of African sapindaceae based on quantitative and qualitative characters

Abstract

This study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative morphology to characterise and group different representative species of the family Sapindaceae in Africa. The morphological characters used included leaf, stem and fruit. Essentially, the similarities among various taxa in the family were estimated. A total of 28 genera and 106 species were assessed. Members possess compound leaves (paripinnate, imparipinnate or trifoliolate); flowers are in clusters, fruits occur as berry, drupe or capsule and contain seed with white or orange aril. UPGMA dendograms were generated showing relationships amongst taxa studied. The dendograms consists of a single cluster from 0 57 % similarity coefficients suggesting a single line decent of the members of the family. At 65 % two clusters were observed with Majidea fosterii being separated from the cluster. Also, at 67 % similarity coefficient, two clusters were discerned separating the climbing forms from the shrubby forms. Paullinia pinnata was separated from the other climbing forms at 67 % while Allophylus species were separated into two clusters at 91 % similarity coefficient. The dendograms revealed that the family can be separated into eleven (11) clusters based on qualitative morphological data. A key to the identification of genera is presented in this work.

Key words: Clusters, Dendogram, Identification, UPGMA, Sapindaceae.