Taxonomic Revision of Generic Segregates of Pithecellobium sensu lato, Excluding Abarema and Macrosamanea

含羞草属的热带豆科植物是木本植物，从墨西哥和阿根廷沙漠或加勒比海珊瑚礁海岸的小刺灌木到巴西亚马逊河流域巨大的新兴森林树木。它们进入海拔2000米以下的所有新热带林地灌木群落，是森林边缘植物区系中几乎无处不在的元素。其中包括庄严的萨曼树（Albizia saman），它在拉丁美洲的城市中填补了印度榕树的作用，在拉丁美洲的农村为牛提供阴凉和营养丰富的水果；还有番石榴（Pithecellobium dulce），这是农村市场上的一种主食，番石榴的种子裹在甜甜的果肉里，被认为是一种水果，也是夏季饮料的基本原料。然而，它们中的大多数主要为当地人所欣赏，为他们提供了咖啡园的托儿所遮荫树，用于建筑，家具和燃料的木材，并且是蜂蜜的丰富来源。在这些角色中，美洲的含羞草在美洲印第安语和拉丁语中都获得了大量的方言名称，证明了它们在使用它们的人的生活中的重要性。含羞草类最后一次全面的分类清单可以追溯到1875年。从那时起，人们对它们有了更多的了解，并发现和描述了许多新的物种。就可检索到的资料而言，其中大多数存在于晦涩的技术出版物中，只是它们的名字，没有人能确切地说，有多少是真正独特的物种，或者在哪里可以找到它们，或者根据目前的植物命名规则，它们应该如何命名。除了在政治单位的植物区系中出现的拼凑的记录之外，没有任何现代的清单，其中许多是相互矛盾的，一个物种在不同的国家以不同的名字出现，几个不同的物种经常以一个名字伪装。没有可靠的清单，就无法对生态系统功能和人类繁荣所依赖的木本植物群的管理、开发或保护做出合理的决策。Drs。纽约植物园的鲁珀特·巴尼和詹姆斯·格莱姆斯正在为大属的热带木本豆科植物及其近亲提供这份现代目录。这些结果将成为植物区系的编写者和使用者可以依靠的经核实的资料来源，用于实际鉴定物种，用于正确的科学命名，用于指示地理范围和生境，以及用于记录当地人民的经济用途。

The mimosa group of tropical legumes are woody plants that range in stature from small prickly shrubs of Mexican and Argentine deserts or Caribbean coral reef-shores to gigantic emergent forest trees of Brazilian Amazonia. They enter all woodland shrub communities of the Neotropics below about 2000 meters elevation, and are an almost ubiquitous element in the flora of forest margins. Numbered among them are the stately saman (Albizia saman), which fills in urban Latin America the role of the banyan in India, and in rural Latin America provides shade and a crop of nutritious fruits for cattle; and the guamuchil (Pithecellobium dulce), a staple of rural markets, the seeds of which are enveloped in sweet pulp esteemed as a fruit and as basis for summer drinks. Most of them, however, are appreciated primarily by local people, for whom they provide nursery shade trees in the coffee orchards, timber used in construction, furniture, and as fuel, and are a rich source of honey. In these roles the mimosas of the Americas have acquired a large vocabulary of vernacular names, both in Amerindian and Latin languages, testifying to their importance in the lives of the people who use them. The last comprehensive taxonomic inventory of the mimosa group dates back to 1875. Since then much has been learned about them, and many new species have been discovered and described. Most of these exist, so far as retrievable information goes, only as names in obscure technical publications, and no one can say for sure how many are truly distinct species, or where they are to be found, or how they should be named according to current rules of botanical nomenclature. There is no modern inventory other than the patchwork of accounts that have appeared in floras of political units, many of which are mutually contradictory, one species appearing under different names in different countries, and several distinct species often masquerading under one name. Without a reliable inventory, no rational decisions can be made about the management, exploitation, or conservation of woody floras on which the function of ecological systems and the prosperity of mankind depend. Drs. Rupert Barneby and James Grimes of the New York Botanical Garden are providing this modern inventory, for the woody tropical legumes of the large genus Pithecellobium and its relatives. The results will serve as a source of verified information on which the writers and users of floras can depend, for practical identification of species, for correct scientific nomenclature, for indication of geographical ranges and habitat occurrences, and for documentation of economic uses by local peoples.