Hymenocarpos

Taxonomy

Hymenocarpos C.G. Savi Nom. cons. Fl. Pisana 2: 205. 1798.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.13.04.
Tribe: Loteae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 2–2.5 cm long; 0.6–0.8 cm wide; 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; with orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; 1-coiled; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; coiled; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; flattened; without beak; truncate at apex; right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; truncate at base; right angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin embellished; margin with wing(s) (margins either entire, dentate, or aculeate); wing(s) present; wing(s) 1; wing(s) 3 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome (to irregularly brown tinged with purple); brown, or tan, or gray and purple; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; with pubescence golden; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present (restricted only to seed chamber); 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; entire. Seed(s) 2; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 1–3 mm long; 2–2.5 mm wide; 1 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; compressed; 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; reddish brown, or tan, or cream, or yellow; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; without faboid split; punctiform; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; somewhat recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim (if testa light colored), or within halo (if testa dark colored); halo darker than testa. Lens discernible; with margins curved; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm absent. 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; light tan; 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; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Mediterranean region and west Asia.

Old World; Europe to Mediterranean to Southwest Asia (western), or Africa.

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).