Acmispson

Taxonomy

Acmispon C.S. Rafinesque-Schmaltz Atlantic J. 144. 1832 (winter).

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.13.07A.
Tribe: Loteae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 5 studied; ca. 10 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.8–3 cm long; 0.1–0.3 cm wide; 0.1 cm thick; 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, or curved (or slightly curved); not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; linear; not inflated; compressed, or terete; without beak, or with beak; hooked; tapered at apex; oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; 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, or semiglossy; monochrome; reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; pilose, or villous; with pubescence gray, or golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular, or glandular; with glandular dots (in herringbone pattern on valve); without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; dotted, or wrinkled; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth (below and around seed and cobwebb between "seed chambers" or smooth throughout); without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible (each seed in individual "seed chamber" with 2 septa between seeds or with 1 thin septum between each seed); with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 5–10; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; curved. Aril absent.

Seed: 1–2.7 mm long; 1–1.5 mm wide; 0.6–0.8 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular, or angular; asymmetrical; circular, or oblong, or mitaform; compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes, or without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between 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; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled and streaked (both faintly); with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; reddish brown, or tan (greenish); with brown overlay (darker reddish); glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; barely recessed; within halo; halo darker than testa. Lens discernible; 0.5 mm long; with margins curved; elliptic, or 2 circular mounds separated by groove; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.2 mm from hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; dark reddish brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin, or thick; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to embryo, or testa. 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; tan, or yellow, or green; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons, or not centered between cotyledons (radicle outside 1 cotyledon and inside other, therefore junctions for each cotyledon different); less than 1/2 length of cotyledons, or 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

North America, Mexico, South America.

New World; United States to Mexico to South America

Generic Notes

Lassen (1986) transferred Lotus roudairei E. Bonnet of North Africa to Acmispon because of its glandular stipules and 5–6 leaflets per leaf. Kramina and Sokoloff (1997) reexamined L. roudairei, and concluded that L. roudairei is not related to New World taxa and should remain in Lotus.

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).