Campylotropis

Taxonomy

Campylotropis A.A. von Bunge Pl. Mongholico-Chin. 6. 1835.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.23.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Lespedezinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 15 studied; ca. 65 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.8–1.5 cm long; 0.4–0.5 cm wide; 0.05–0.07 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide, or length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath, or persistent androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx, or persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight, or curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; oblong; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; flattened; without beak, or with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex, or 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; membranous; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) present; substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or glabrous (except for stiff hairs along sutures); with hairs erect, or appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; pilose; with pubescence brown (to reddish), or golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable, or stiff (golden hairs along sutures); with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; 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; reddish brown; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp; entire. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 3.7–4.5 mm long; 2–2.5 mm wide; 1.3–1.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; 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; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; reddish brown; 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; larger than punctiform; 0.4 mm long; with curved outline; circular; marginal according to radicle tip; flush; within rim, or within halo (halo absent or faintly present); halo darker than testa; rim color of testa. Lens discernible; with margins curved; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum (or nearly so); flush; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm absent. 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; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; reddish to greenish brown; 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; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Asia.

Old World; Southwest Asia to China to Korea to India to Indochina to Indonesia and the Philippines (Java).
 

Generic Notes

Ohashi (1974a, 1974b, 1974c) published a trio of papers on Campylotropis, and Fu (1987) recognized 29 species in the People's Republic of China. Akiyama and Ohba (1985) and Nemoto and Ohashi (1988) maintained Campylotropis, Kummerowia (11.25), and Lespedeza (11.24) as distinct genera.

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).