Glycine

Taxonomy

Glycine C.L. von Willdenow Nom. cons. Sp. Pl. ed. 4. 3(2): 1053. Nov 1802.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.35.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Glycininae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 3 studied; 9 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.5–7 cm long; 0.3–1.5 cm wide; 0.2–0.8 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight, or curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; linear, or falcate to moniliform (slightly), or irregular; with both sutures unequally curved, or both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; compressed; without beak, or with beak; straight, or declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; tapered at apex, or short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous to coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted, or constricted (rarely); margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas; 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; tan to brown (dark); with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent to sericeous; with pubescence golden to gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases swollen, or plain; eglandular; smooth; not veined, or veined; irregularly veined; not tuberculate; 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; coriaceous to chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; brown to tan to white; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate, or subseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating, or exfoliating in part; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 2–8; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–0.5 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; straight. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril, or 2-lipped rim-aril; entire; with tongues (or flap) on lips of 2-lipped rim-aril; with 1 tongue or flap on 1 lip of 2-lipped rim-aril; cream, or tan, or white.

Seed: 2–15.2 mm long; 1.8–10.2 mm wide; 1–7 mm thick; not overgrown; angular, or not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; elliptic, or oblong, or ovate, or quadrangular, or rectangular, or reniform; compressed; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes, or with 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, or modified by a bloom; colored, or clear; monochrome, or mottled; with frequent mottles; brown to cream to tan to yellow; with brown overlay; glabrous; not smooth, or smooth; with elevated features; reticulate, or tuberculate, or papillate; coriaceous to chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split, or without faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 0.4–5.8 mm long; with curved outline; elliptic; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; flush, or recessed; within rim, or within corona, or not within corona, halo, or rim; corona color darker than testa; rim color of testa. Lens discernible; 0.1–1.5 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded, or recessed; same color as testa, or similar color as testa; lighter than testa, or darker than testa; brown to tan; within rim, or not within corona, halo, or rim; rim color of testa, or lighter than testa, or darker than testa. Endosperm present; thin, or trace; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo, or restricted to region of embryo; adnate to testa, or embryo. Cotyledons smooth, or not smooth; wrinkled; 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; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; white to yellow to tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis straight to oblique; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose; lobe tip curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons to 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule well developed; glabrous.

Distribution

Asia, Australia, Oceania, and widely cultivated
.
Old World; Southwest Asia, Africa, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, Australia, Pacific, Japan, China, New Guinea, Fiji, and Korea.

Worldwide crop.

Generic Notes

Lackey (1981) commented that Sinodolichos (10.34) is possibly congeneric with Glycine. Glycine max, the soybean, is the most vauable grain legume with a world wide production of 123.6 million metric tons in 1995 (American Soybean Association, no date; Duke, 1981; van der Maesen and Somaatmadja, 1989; Schery, 1972). Soybean is so important because the seed is 13–25 percent oil, 30–50 percent protein, and 14–24 percent carbohydrate (Schery, 1972). Murray et al (2003) examined seed size, viz., seed weight, in relation to latitude and longitude in Australia. They discovered that in Australia seed size increased 4.23% with each shift of one degree of latitude towards the equator and 2.25% with each shift of one degree of longitude from east to west.

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.