Bauhinia ser. Aculeatae

Casas-Restrepo, Luis Carlos, Fonseca-Cortés, Andrés & Queiroz, Luciano Paganucci De, 2025, Bauhinia angelae (Leguminosae: Cercidoideae): An overlooked new species from drylands of Northeastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 691 (3), pp. 271-281 : 279

Key for species included in Bauhinia ser. Aculeatae

1. Plant with entire leaves.......................................................................................................................................................................2

- Plants with bilobed leaves ..................................................................................................................................................................3

2 Branches with descending and strongly recurvated prickles; leaves twice as long as wide; flower buds 3.5–4.5 cm long at anthesis ......................................................................................................................................................................... B. integerrima

- Branches with erect or ascending, generally not recurvated prickles; leaves at least three times as long as wide; flower buds 6.5–8 cm long at anthesis ................................................................................................................................................................. B. ovata

3. Leaves with rounded lobes .................................................................................................................................................................4

- Leaves with acuminate or obtuse lobes..............................................................................................................................................7

4. Leaves longer than wider or equal; mature fruits up to 6 cm long.................................................................................... B. catingae

- Leaves wider than longer; mature fruits longer than 8 cm long.........................................................................................................5

5. Floral buds clavate, wider towards the apex ......................................................................................................................... B. mollis

- Floral buds fusiform, not expanded at the apex .................................................................................................................................6

6. Ovary and stipe glabrous or only presenting glandulous trichomes; floral buds at anthesis up to 5 cm long .............. B. platypetala

- Ovary and stipe indumented and presenting glandulous trichomes; floral buds at anthesis longer than 6 cm long......... B. aculeata

7. Leaves up to 5 cm long, divided by 1/2 or more of its total length....................................................................................................8

- Leaves longer than 6 cm long, divided by 1/3 or no more than 1/2 of its total length.......................................................................9

8. Floral buds constricted at the apex and bearing filiform lobes ............................................................................................. B. affinis

- Floral buds not constricted at the apex and lacking lobes.................................................................................................. B. albicans

9. Floral buds at anthesis up to 7 cm long, constricted at the apex and bearing twisted lobes; plants from northeastern Brazilian Caatinga drylands ................................................................................................................................................................ B. angelae

- Floral buds at anthesis longer than 9 cm long, not constricted at the apex and lacking lobes; plants from Amazonian or Atlantic rainforests .........................................................................................................................................................................................10

10. Leaves divided only at the apex or up to 1/4 of their total length; mature fruits longer than 25 cm long; distributed in the Amazon Rainforest ........................................................................................................................................................................... B. acreana

- Leaves divided in more than 1/3 of their total length; mature fruits up to 20 cm long; distributed in Atlantic Rainforests............11

11. Staminal sheath pubescent........................................................................................................................ B. forficata subsp. forficata

- Staminal sheath glabrous......................................................................................................................... B. forficata subsp. pruinosa