Dorycnium

Taxonomy

Dorycnium P. Miller Gard. Dict. Abr. ed. 4. 28 Jan 1754.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.13.06.
Tribe: Loteae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 7 studied; ca. 12 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.3–2 cm long; 0.2–1 cm wide; 0.2–0.32 cm thick; 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; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; oblong, or obovate, or ovate, or circular; with both sutures nearly straight, or both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; terete; 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, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous, or ligneous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active, or passive; with valves twisting, or enrolling. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; light to dark reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; pilose; with simple hairs; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; 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; (sub-) ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome, or mottled; reddish brown, or tan (greenish); with mottling more or less uniform (dark); with brown overlay (reddish); smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate, or nonseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; exfoliating in part to exfoliating; separating from mesocarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–8; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 1.3–2 mm long; 1–1.6 mm wide; 1–1.4 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; elliptic, or mitaform, or circular; terete; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; 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; with frequent mottles; brown to yellowish or reddish brown, or green (to tannish); with black overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible, or fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; 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, or between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim, or within halo; halo darker than testa, or lighter than testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; 0.5 mm long; with margins curved; key-hole shaped; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.1 mm from hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to embryo. 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 white; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; oblique to length of seed; with a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear, or bulbose (somewhat); deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Central and southern Europe and Mediterranean.

Old World; central and southern Europe, Mediterranean, Russia, Africa, Southwest Asia, and Macaronesia.

Generic Notes

This genus was part of Lotus (13.07) in the report of Polhill (1981k), but Dorycnium has often been recognized as a separate genus with two sections: Bonjeania (H.G.L.R. Reichenbach) P.E. Boissier with 2–8-seeded legumes and Dorycnium with 1-seeded legumes.

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).