Adesmia

Taxonomy

Adesmia A.P. de Candolle Nom. cons. Ann. Sci. Nat. (Paris) 4: 94. Jan 1825.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.15.01.
Tribe: Adesmieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 35 studied; ca. 230 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment); 1.2–3 cm long; 2.5–7 cm wide; 0.05–0.2 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; straight, or curved (or slightly curved); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture; narrowing in several places, resembling Desmodium (3.11.09) fruit; not inflated; flattened, or compressed; without beak; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted; margin constricted only on 1 margin; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with prickles; wing(s) absent; substipitate; with all layers dehiscing (occasionally: Burkart (1967, p. 491)), or indehiscent; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves passive. Replum invisible. Loment an intact article; indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 4–12 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) triangular, or D-shaped. Epicarp dull; monochrome; black, or brown (to reddish brown), or tan; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; pilose, or tomentose, or villous; with pubescence golden, or gray-brown, or red, or gray, or tan; with simple hairs, or complex hairs; with plumose hairs, or bristle-like hairs (up to 1 cm long); stiff, or pliable; with hair bases plain; straight; straight at apex; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; glandular dotted; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings. Seed(s) 1–12; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; brown.

Seed: 1.5–3.5 mm long; 1.5–3.5 mm wide; 1–2.4 mm thick; overgrown, 1 seed filling entire fruit cavity; not angular (though at first glance appearing to be angular), or angular; asymmetrical; mitaform (or nearly so); mounded on 1 side and straight on other side; with 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; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled, or streaked; with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; black, or brown (to reddish), or tan; with brown overlay; glabrous; smooth; osseous to coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed, or partially concealed; concealed by aril, or aril remnant, or radicle lobe, or wing; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split lighter colored than the rest of the hilum and therefore conspicuous; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; recessed; within rim; rim color darker than testa. Lens discernible; 1–2 mm long; with margins curved; circular (as large as hilum); not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa. Cotyledons smooth; outer face of one cotyledon flat and other cotyledon convex; one thicker than the other; both more or less of equal length; with both folded, or not folded; not sufficiently folded for inner face to touch itself; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; not concealing radicle (nearly); split over radicle; with lobes; with lobes not touching; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; white, or 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; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons, or equaling length of cotyledons, or exceeding length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Montane and temperate South America (Peru and southern Brazil to Tierra del Fuego).

New World; South America (Peru and southern Brazil to Tierra del Fuego); Argentina, Brazil, and the Guianas.

Generic Notes

For additional seed and fruit drawings, See Burkart (1966, 1967), the latter a synopsis of the genus. In his synopsis, Burkart compared the seeds of A. bicolor (J.L.M. Poiret) A.P. de Candolle to those of Trifolium repens C. Linnaeus (Trifolieae, 23.01). Ulibarri (1987) monographed the series Microphyllae with 33 species. Miotto and Leitpo filho (1993) treated the Brazilian species of Adesmia. Most of our fruit samples were composed of individual indehiscent articles, and our data for entire fruits was derived from the two papers of Burkart.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Adesmieae

Polhill (1981g) evaluated the phylogenetic position of Adesmieae.