Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.18.02.
Tribe: Hedysareae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 50 studied; ca. 100 in genus.
Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment) (with 2-several joints); 2–4 cm long; 0.3–1 cm wide; 0.15–0.25 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; linear, or elliptic, or ovate; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; compressed, or terete; without beak; short tapered 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, or membranous, or ligneous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers torulose; margin constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus, or with sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with spines (with usually curved or occasionally straight apex), or prickles, or wing(s); wing(s) present, or absent; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 0.5–3 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; nonstipitate, or substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Loment an intact article; indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 3.5–16 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape, or basal 1 different shape than middle one(s); segments (articles) elliptic to oblong, or D-shaped, or quadrangular, or circular. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or glabrate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs appressed, or erect; with 1 type of pubescence; pilose, or tomentose; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; with spines, or without spines; with spines persistent, or broken off and their bases evident; with spines same color as the rest of the fruit; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; tuberculate (if apicies of spines removed); with solid tubercles on each valve; rugose, or wrinkled, or tuberculate, or muricate; 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; ligneous (sub), or coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp, or without wings; entire. Seed(s) (1–)2–8; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–3 mm long (usually less than 0.5); of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.
Seed: 2.8–4.5 mm long; 2–4 mm wide; 1–2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; with external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; with external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes same color as testa; 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; colored; monochrome; reddish or greenish brown, or tan (to greenish), or yellow, or cream; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by funicular remnant, or wing; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; within rim; rim color darker than testa, or of testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible (because may be color of testa); with margins straight, or curved; oblong; circular, or oblong; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum, or confluent with hilum; 0.4 mm from hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa, or same color as testa; darker than testa; black; 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; 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; white, or yellow; 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; lobe tip hooked, or straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons, or 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary, or moderately developed; glabrous.
Europe, Mediterranean region, Asia, and North America.
New World and Old World; Alaska to Canada to United States; Europe to Mediterranean to Russia to Southwest Asia to Africa to India to China to Korea to Japan to Mongolia.
Old World crop.
Authors: J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, A.L. Weitzman, M.J. Dallwitz, K.R. Thiele
Content last updated April 2003
Released April 2024 on idtools.org
