Flemingia

Taxonomy

Flemingia W. Roxburgh ex W.T. Aiton Nom. cons. Hortus Kew. ed. 2. 4: 349. Dec 1812.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.77.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Cajaninae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 9 studied; 30 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.5 cm long; 0.9 cm wide; 0.7 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; irregular, or harp-shaped; with both sutures unequally curved; not inflated; terete, or compressed; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex, or rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; 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; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; stiff; with hair bases swollen, or plain; glandular; with glandular dots; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not veined; transversely veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; glandular dotted; exfoliating in part, or not exfoliating; with cracks, or without cracks; cracking oblique to fruit length; 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; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; streaked; tan; with brown overlay, or gray overlay; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1, or 2; length oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–1.1 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril, or 2-lipped rim-aril (rarely); entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; with tongues (or flap) on lips of 2-lipped rim-aril; with 1 tongue or flap on 1 lip of 2-lipped rim-aril, or 2 tongues or flaps, 1 on each lip of 2-lipped rim-aril (rarely); cream.

Seed: 3–5.6 mm long; 2.5–4.2 mm wide; 2.5–4.3 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular, or angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; circular, or irregular, or reniform, or rhombic; terete to compressed; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes (mostly), or with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; with shallow 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, or modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with frequent mottles; black, or brown (dark); with black overlay, or brown overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines present, or absent; transverse. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 1–1.5 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length, or apical at apex of radicle tip (rarely); flush; within rim, or within rim and within halo; halo darker than testa; rim color darker than testa, or of testa, or lighter than testa (rim lighter if with halo). Lens discernible; 0.5 mm long; with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; brown; within rim; rim color of testa, or darker than testa. Endosperm present; trace; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; restricted to region of embryo; adnate to testa. 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; partially concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; yellow, or tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed, or oblique; oblique to length of seed, or perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose, or triangular; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width, or oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed to rudimentary (rarely); glabrous.

Distribution

Africa to Asia and Australia.

Old World and New World; naturalized West Indies and South America (naturalized); Ecuador; Africa to Southwest Asia to India to China to Indochina to Indonesia and the Philippines to Australia.

Generic Notes

Hutchinson (1964) described the seeds as estrophiolate, however, rim-arils were present on all species studied, so that it must be an interpretation similar to that discussed by Grear and Dengler (1976) for Eriosema.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Phaseoleae

Bruneau et al. (1995) carried out cladistic analyses of tribe Phaseoleae using chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Their results indicated that the tribe is not monophyletic and that the tribal delimitations between Phaseoleae and Desmodieae (11) and between Phaseoleae and Millettieae (7) are problematic.