Clitoria

Taxonomy

Clitoria C. Linnaeus Sp. Pl. 753. 1 Mai 1753.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.16.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Clitoriinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 23 studied; 59 in genus (Fantz, pers. comm.).

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 3.7–33 cm long; 0.5–5 cm wide; 0.2–0.5 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide to more than 9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight to curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; linear, or falcate; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; compressed; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; tapered at apex to short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous to coriaceous to leathery; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with flange(s), or thickened sutural areas, or wing(s); wing(s) absent, or present (only in sect. Neurocarpum (A.N. Desvaux) J.G. Baker); wing(s) 2; wing(s) 1 mm wide; wing(s) valvular; wing(s) on both valves (medial, occasionally incompletely formed); nonstipitate, or substipitate (only in subgen. Clitoria); with the stipe 0.5–1 mm long; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; mottled; brown or greenish brown, or yellow; with brown overlay; mottling color combination constant; with mottling over seed chambers; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or glabrate, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence, or 2 types of pubescence; strigose and puberulent, or puberulent and villous (sparsely), or puberulent; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; blistered, or scurfy; not exfoliating; with cracks, or without cracks; cracking oblique to fruit length; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick to thin; surface not veined; 3-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; with vitriol layer over 2 distinct solid layers; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; mottled; white; with mottling over seed chambers; with brown overlay; scurfy; without adhering pieces of testa; septate to subseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; exfoliating in part; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp, or without wings; entire. Seed(s) 2–11; length parallel with fruit length, or transverse to fruit length (seeds nearly round); neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.5–5 mm long; of 1 length only; thick; triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry 2-lipped rim-aril, or rim-aril (with tongue); entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; with tongues (or flap) on lips of 2-lipped rim-aril; with 1 tongue or flap on 1 lip of 2-lipped rim-aril, or 2 tongues or flaps, 1 on each lip of 2-lipped rim-aril (smaller one on second lip); cream.

Seed: 5–23 mm long; 4.8–22 mm wide; 1.8–5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular, or angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical (slightly); nearly circular, or reniform, or rhombic, or oblong; terete to compressed to flattened; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Cuticle not exfoliating; not inflated; not wrinkled. Testa present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp, or partially adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; glossy, or dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with frequent mottles; reddish or dark brown, or green (brownish); with black overlay; glabrous; smooth; chartaceous to coriaceous (sub). Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible, or partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 1–1.3 mm long; with curved outline; oval; apical at apex of radicle tip to subapical to radicle tip to apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; raised, or flush; within rim; rim color of testa, or lighter than testa, or darker than testa. Lens discernible; 0.5–0.6 mm long; with margins curved; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; brown to black; not within corona, halo, or rim, or within halo; halo color darker than testa. Endosperm present, or absent; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; restricted to region of embryo, or covering at least 1/2 of embryo, but not entire embryo; adnate to testa. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex; one thicker than the other; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; partially concealing radicle; split over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; white to tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed, or right angled, or straight (rarely); oblique to length of seed, or perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear to triangular; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons, or deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width, or with 90 degree turn, or straight with embryonic axis (rarely); centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons, or 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed to moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Pantropics and North America.

New World and Old World; pantropical; United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, and South America; Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Guianas; Africa, Madagascar, Southwest Asia, India, Indochina, China, Australia, and Macaronesia.
 

Generic Notes

Clitoria polystachya G. Bentham has sticky seeds, as does Barbieria (10.16A) (Delgado Salinas, pers. comm. 1997).

Tribal Notes

Tribe Phaseoleae

Bruneau et al. (1995) carried out cladistic analyses of tribe Phaseoleae using chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Their results indicated that the tribe is not monophyletic and that the tribal delimitations between Phaseoleae and Desmodieae (11) and between Phaseoleae and Millettieae (7) are problematic.