Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.25.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Lespedezinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 2 studied; 2 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.28–0.45 cm long; 0.15–0.23 cm wide; 0.1–0.13 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit, or equal in length to fruit (nearly); without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; oblong; not inflated; compressed; without beak; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brown, or tan; with surface texture uniform; pubescent but soon deciduous, or pubescent and indurate, or glabrate; with hairs appressed, or erect; with 1 type of pubescence; velutinous; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed, or with apical pubescence different from basal pubescence; with apical 1/3–1/2 pubescent and basal 1/2–2/3 glabrous; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined; tuberculate; tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus more or less filiform; curved. Aril present (barely visible), or absent; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; reddish tan, or brown (reddish).
Seed: 1.5–2.3 mm long; 1.5–1.8 mm wide; 0.8–1 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical (except hilum); oblong, or ovate, or elliptic; 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; 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, or mottled and streaked; with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; dark reddish brown, or tan (reddish); with purple overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split lighter colored than the rest of the hilum and therefore conspicuous; punctiform, or larger than punctiform; 0.3 mm long; with curved outline; circular; between cotyledon and radicle lobe, or subapical to radicle tip; flush; within halo; halo lighter than testa. Lens discernible; with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; recessed; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa, or lighter than testa; reddish brown, or tan (greenish), or green; 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; tan; 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; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.
Isely (1948) discussed the two species of annual Lespedeza naturalized in the United States, which now are placed in the genus Kummerowia. Aikyama and Ohba (1985) and Nemoto and Ohashi (1988) maintained Campylotropis (11.23), Kummerowia, and Lespedeza (11.24) as distinct genera.
Tribe Desmodieae
Ohashi et al. (1981) started their treatment of the Desmodieae with these thoughts: "A sensible classification of Desmodieae is prejudiced by the traditional over-weighting of fruit characters." (sic) "The fruit normally consists of indehiscent jointed articles, but fruits that open have arisen at least seven times..." They supplemented their text with a fruit-seed plate. They placed Brya and Cranocarpus (11.02), the only two New World endemic genera, in the new subtribe Bryinae, "characterized most notably by glochidiate hairs." Bailey et al. (1997), using the chloroplast rpl2 intron and ORF184, suggested that Brya, Cranocarpus, Phylacium (11.22), and Neocollettia (11.26) are not members of Desmodieae and that they probably belong in Aeschynomeneae (14).
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
