Alysicarpus

Taxonomy

Alysicarpus A.N. Desvaux Nom. cons. J. Bot. Agric. 1: 120. Mar 1813.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.18.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Desmodiinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 11 studied; 25–30 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment), or a legume; unilocular; 0.5–2.5 cm long; 0.1–0.3 cm wide; 0.1–0.2 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx longer than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight, or curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; linear, or moniliform, or oblong; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture; widest near middle or D-shaped, or narrowing in several places, resembling Desmodium (3.11.09) fruit; not inflated; terete; without beak, or with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; 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 torulose, or 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, or dehiscing along 1 suture (somewhat); segments (articles) conspicuous; segments (articles) 1–4 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) rectangular, or quadrangular. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; bichrome; brown (to dirty, greenish, dark, reddish), or tan, or black; with brown overlay (reddish); with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or glabrous; with hairs erect, or appressed; puberulent; with pubescence gray; with simple hairs (with hooked tips that are easily broken off); pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined, or transversely 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; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–8; length parallel with fruit length, or transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 1.5–2.5 mm long; 1.2–1.8 mm wide; 0.8–1.2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; elliptic (and oblong), or oblong, or rhombic (rounded), or quadrangular, or circular (to sub); slightly compressed; 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; free from endocarp; glossy, or dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled (faint to conspicuous); with frequent mottles; reddish brown, or tan (and greenish- to reddish), or yellow, or black; with brown overlay (reddish), or purple overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed, or visible; concealed by funiculus; with 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; within rim, or within halo; halo of testa (essentially); rim color of testa. Lens discernible; 0.3 mm long; with margins straight, or curved; linear; more or less circular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; flush; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; dark reddish brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa, or embryo. Cotyledons not 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; partially concealing radicle, or not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes, or with lobes; with lobes not touching; without basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; yellow, or white; 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; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length, or deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Old World tropics with A. vaginalis (C. Linnaeus) A.P. de Candolle a worldwide crop.

Old World; Africa to Madagascar to Southwest Asia to India to Indochina to China to Australia to Indonesia and the Philippines to Macaronesia.

Worldwide crop (A. vaginalis).

Generic Notes

Jha and Pandey (1988) studied seeds of Alysicarpus and Uraria (11.16).

Tribal Notes

Tribe Desmodieae

Ohashi et al. (1981) started their treatment of the Desmodieae with these thoughts: "A sensible classification of Desmodieae is prejudiced by the traditional over-weighting of fruit characters." (sic) "The fruit normally consists of indehiscent jointed articles, but fruits that open have arisen at least seven times..." They supplemented their text with a fruit-seed plate. They placed Brya and Cranocarpus (11.02), the only two New World endemic genera, in the new subtribe Bryinae, "characterized most notably by glochidiate hairs." Bailey et al. (1997), using the chloroplast rpl2 intron and ORF184, suggested that Brya, Cranocarpus, Phylacium (11.22), and Neocollettia (11.26) are not members of Desmodieae and that they probably belong in Aeschynomeneae (14).