Author: (Lour.) Wunderlin
Morphological description
Tendrilled lianas (in Malesia).
Leaves entire, bilobed or bifoliolate.
Flowers: Hypanthium ± elongate, sometimes dilated at base or turbinate. Calyx closed or open at apex before anthesis, splitting irregularly into 2-5 lobes or regularly into 5 lobes, or dentate in upper part only. Petals subequal to unequal; nectariferous disc present or absent. Fertile stamens 2, 3, or 10; reduced stamens or staminodes often present; anthers opening by longitudinal slits or by a central pore in each theca.
Pods flat, woody or thin-valved, dehiscent or indehiscent.
Distribution
150 species, pantropical but most abundant in SE Asia and S America.
KEY TO THE SECTIONS OF SUBGENUS PHANERA
1a. Leaves bifoliolate on flowering shoots; fertile stamens 10
SectionLysiphyllum
with the following species: Bauhinia binata, Bauhinia dewitii, andBauhinia diptera
1b. Leaves entire or bilobed on flowering shoots; fertile stamens 3, rarely 2 .......... 2
2a. Anthers opening by a central pore
Section Palmatifolia
with the following species: Bauhinia bidentata, Bauhinia burbidgei, Bauhinia campanulata, Bauhinia cuprea, Bauhinia decumbens, Bauhinai elmeri, Bauhinia finslaysoniana, Bauhinia foraminifer, Bauhinia franckii, Bauhinia havilandii, Bauhinia kingii, Bauhinia kockiana, Bauhinia lambiana, Bauhinia lucida, Bauhinia menispermacea, Bauhinia posthumi, Bauhinia pyrrhoneura, and Bauhinia wrayi
2b. Anthers opening by a slit lengthwise .......................................................................... 3
3a. Nectariferous disc present Section Lasiobema
Bauhinia curtisii, Bauhinia flava and Bauhinia scandens;
3b. Nectariferous disc absent ................................................................................................ 4
4a. Flowers pseudopapilionaceous; fleshy, digitate body present on the rim of the hypanthium Section Austrocercis
with the following species: Bauhinia williamsii
4b. Flowers not pseudopapilionaceous; fleshy, digitate body absent............................ 5
5a. Calyx open at apex before anthesis, remaining campanulate
SectionTubicalyx
with the following species: Bauhinia strychnoidea, and Bauhinia tubicalyx
5b. Calyx closed before anthesis, splitting into 2-5 lobes
Section Phanera
with the following species: Bauhinia aherniana, Bauhinia andersonii, Bauhinia audax, Bauhinia bassacensis, Bauhinia corymbosa, Bauhinia crudiantha, Bauhinia endertii, Bauhinia excelsa, Bauhinia excurrens, Bauhinia fabrilis, Bauhinia ferruginea, Bauhinia fulva, Bauhinia glabrifolia, Bauhinia glabristipes, Bauhinia glauca, Bauhinia gracillima, Bauhinia hendersonii, Bauhinia integrifolia, Bauhinia kostermansii, Bauhinia lingua, Bauhinia merrilliana, Bauhinia pachyphylla, Bauhinia pauciflora, Bauhinia praesignis, Bauhinia rahmatii, Bauhinia ridley, Bauhinia semibifida, Bauhinia steenisii, Bauhinia stipularis, and Bauhinia sylvani;