Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.13.13.
Tribe: Loteae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 10 studied; 30 in genus.
Fruit: A loment (or a loment segment); 1.2–4 cm long; 0.1–0.6 cm wide; 0.07–0.16 cm thick; more than 9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; with orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments (more than 1 per fruit), or without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments (H. emerus); straight to curved (to slightly curved), or 0.5-coiled to 1-coiled to 1.5-coiled; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; linear, or quadrangular; with both sutures parallelly curved, or both sutures unequally curved; not inflated; flattened, or compressed; without beak; long tapered at apex to tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit to oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; long tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit to oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present, or absent; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 2 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on both sutures; substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Loment indehiscent; segments (articles) inconspicuous; segments (articles) 5–25 mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with all essentially similar in shape; segments (articles) hippocrepiform. Epicarp semiglossy; monochrome; reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with glandular hairs (restricted to top of arch between winged margins); stiff; with hair bases plain; glandular; with glandular hairs; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; veined; longitudinally 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; surface not veined; 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; 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) 3–12; length transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril absent.
Seed: 2–4.5 mm long; 0.7–0.8 mm wide; 0.7–0.8 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; hippocrepiform, or linear; terete; without visible 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; glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown (brown to reddish), or green (yellowish), or tan, or blue (reddish); glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; slightly recessed; within corona (H. ciliata C.L. von Willdenow), or not within corona, halo, or rim; corona color darker than testa (black). Lens discernible; with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; mounded, or flush; 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 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; yellow; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; parallel to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; with 180 degree turn; not centered between cotyledons (radicle outside 1 cotyledon and inside other, therefore junctions for each cotyledon different); less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.
Domfnguez (1976) monographed the annual species of Hippocrepis and illustrated their fruits. Our species count is based on Lassen (1989), who gave the genus a traditional treatment, except for the transfer of Coronilla emerus C. Linnaeus. This transfer is particularly disturbing to us, because the fruit characters and to some degree the seed characters are unlike those of the other species in Hippocrepis (compare figures A and B).
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).
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
