Coronilla

Taxonomy

Coronilla C. Linnaeus Nom. cons. prop. Sp. Pl. 742. 1 Mai 1753.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.13.11.
Tribe: Loteae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 7 studied; 9 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment); 1–5 cm long; 0.1–0.3 cm wide; 0.1–0.25 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; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; linear, or moniliform; not inflated; compressed, or terete; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture, or differing in texture; upper 3/4 barely inflated, reticulate, and pubescent and lower 1/4 not inflated, reticulate, or pubescent; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Loment indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 4.5–5.5 mm long; segments (articles) widest across each end, or seed area; segments (articles) with apical 1 different shape than middle one(s), or basal 1 different shape than middle one(s); segments (articles) oblong, or quadrangular. Epicarp dull, or glaucous; monochrome; brown, or tan; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; glandular, or eglandular; with glandular dots; limited to a portion of fruit; upper 3/4 glandular and lower 1/4 eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; longitudinally veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome, or bichrome (with central reddish-brown band); tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–7; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 2 or more series. Funiculus of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 3–5 mm long; 1–2 mm wide; 1–1.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; rhombic; compressed; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; with medial ridge on each face, or without medial ridge on each face. Cuticle not exfoliating; not inflated; not wrinkled. Testa present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; dark reddish brown, or tan; glabrous; smooth (except for 1 longitudinal ridge on each face), or not smooth; with elevated features, or recessed features; with 1 longitudinal ridge on each face; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible, or fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; with faboid split, or without faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; punctiform; marginal according to radicle tip; flush, or recessed (within depression or not); not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible (or barely discolored or darker than testa); with margins straight; wedge-shaped; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black, or brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa, or embryo. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; yellow; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; parallel to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons to 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Europe, Mediterranean region, Atlantic Islands, West Asia, Northeastern Africa, and cultivated in the United States.

Old World; Europe, or Mediterranean, or Russia, or Africa (northeastern), or Macaronesia.

New World crop (United States), or Old World crop.

Generic Notes

Schmidt (1979a) monographed Coronilla, and he (Schmidt, 1979b) documented the reduction of Securigera, which we accept as a separate genus based on Lassen (1989). The latter is the basis of our species count and the genera that we recognize. Schmidt (1979a) illustrated the seeds of 31 species, showing which ones bear a longitudinal line on each face.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Loteae

In 1981, Polhill (1981k) accepted much broader generic circumscriptions in tribe Loteae, and only accepted four genera in the tribe: Cytisopsis, Anthyllis (13.02), Hymenocarpus (13.04), and Lotus (13.07). In his most recent classification of Fabaceae (Polhill, 1994a, 1994b), he combined tribes Loteae and Coronilleae and accepted six segregate genera in Loteae, s.s.: Tripodion (13.03), Dorycnopsis (13.05), Dorycnium (13.06), Podolotus J.F. Royle (13.08), Pseudolotus K.H. Rechinger (13.09), and Vermifrux (13.10).