Cicer

Taxonomy

Cicer C. Linnaeus Sp. Pl. 738. 1 Mai 1753.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.20.01.
Tribe: Cicereae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 28 studied; 43 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.8–3.6 cm long; 0.7–2 cm wide; length less than twice as long as width, or 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; elliptic to oblong to obovate to rhombic (elongate); not inflated; terete; without beak; 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; membranous; seed chambers externally invisible; 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, or passive; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown, or yellow (- brown); with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; pilose; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; glandular, or eglandular; with glandular hairs; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; obliquely veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thin; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–2(–7); touching, or neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1.5 mm long; of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 4–11 mm long; 2.5–9 mm wide; 3–7 mm thick; overgrown, 1 seed filling entire fruit cavity; angular, or not angular; asymmetrical; ovate, or bilobed, cicerlike (typically beaked); terete to quadrangular; with surface grooved; longitudinal; 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, or clear (C. arietinum); monochrome, or mottled; with frequent mottles; black, or brown, or cream, or gray, or green, or ivory, or olive, or orange (yellowish), or pink (gray-brown), or red, or tan, or white, or yellow; glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; shagreen, or tuberculate, or warty, or wrinkled, or echinate; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Raphe visible; from lens to base of seed and bifurcating (C. arietinum); bifurcating at base of seed with each arm going up antiraphe side turning (U-shaped) down and approaching bifurcation; color of testa, or darker than testa; tan, or brown, or black; flush, or recessed. 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; 0.5–1.7 mm long; with curved outline; circular, or elliptic; marginal according to radicle tip, or between cotyledon and radicle lobe; recessed; within rim, or not within corona, halo, or rim; rim color lighter than testa, or of testa. Lens discernible; 2 mm long; with margins straight, or curved; triangular; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 1.5–2 mm from hilum; mounded, or recessed; same color as testa, or dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; red; 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, or not smooth; wrinkled (replicating testa surface); 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; split over radicle; with lobes; with lobes touching (auriculate); with basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; white; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight, or deflexed; parallel to length of seed, or oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip straight, or curved; straight with embryonic axis, or oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Turkey south to Israel and east to the Himalayas and Central Asia; Also in Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, Greece, and Crete. Cicer arietinum is widely cultivated.

Old World; Europe to Mediterranean to Russia to Southwest Asia to Africa to Indian Ocean to India to China to Mongolia to Macaronesia.

Worldwide crop (C. arietinum).

Generic Notes

Van der Maesen (1972, 1987) monographed Cicer. Lersten and Gunn (1981, 1982) discussed the seed morphology and testa topography of Cicer species which supported the separation of Cicereae from the Fabeae (19) (Werker, 1997). Following traditions in the Indian subcontinent, Summerfield and Roberts (1985a) recognized two groups for the guidance of plant breeders: Genotypes producing large, rounded, pale cream-colored seeds (greater than 25g per 100 seeds) borne on tall plants (Kabuli), and genotypes producing smaller irregularly shaped, variously-colored seeds (less than 25g per 100 seeds) borne on relatively short to prostrate plants (Desi).

Tribal Notes

Tribe Cicereae

Endo and Ohashi (1997) have proposed, after a cladistic analysis using morphological characters, including internal seed morphology, that Cicereae and Fabeae (19) formed a monophyletic group whose sister group is Trifolieae (21).