Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.11.24.
Tribe: Desmodieae.
Subtribe: Lespedezinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 30 studied; ca. 40 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.25 cm long; 0.2–0.4 cm wide; 0.1–0.2 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width, or 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath, or persistent androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit, or equal in length to fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; elliptic, or oblong, or ovate, or circular, or linear (somewhat), or C-shaped (slightly); with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; compressed; with beak, or without beak; hooked, or straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; 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; membranous; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with fringe (of hairs); wing(s) absent; substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; reddish brown, or tan (to greenish), or green, or gray (because of hairs); with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous, or glabrous; with hairs appressed (often missing from center of each valve), or erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent; with pubescence gray, or golden; with apical pubescence different from basal pubescence; with apical 1/3–1/2 pubescent and basal 1/2–2/3 glabrous; with simple hairs (either straight or somewhat hooked at apex, and antrorse); pliable, or stiff; 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, or absent; trace, or thin (usually very); surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; reddish brown, or tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus 0.1–1 mm long; flattened, or thick, or partially filiform and partially thick; curved, or straight. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; tan.
Seed: 1.5–5 mm long; 1.3–3 mm wide; 0.7–1.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; 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, or 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, or dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled and streaked; with frequent mottles; light to dark reddish brown, or tan, or purple, or yellow (greenish), or green, or black; 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 the same color as the rest of the hilum; punctiform, or larger than punctiform; 0.3–0.6 mm long; with straight outline; oblong; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed; within halo; halo lighter than testa, or darker than testa. Lens discernible; with margins straight, or curved; oblong, or wedge-shaped, or linear (somewhat and with or without medial groove); circular, or oblong; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum, or adjacent to hilum; 0.1–0.2 mm from hilum; flush; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa, or lighter than testa; black, or tan; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa, or 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; white, or yellow, or green, or 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 length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed, or rudimentary; glabrous.
Akiyama (1988) monographed section Macrolespedza, and Akiyama and Ohba (1988) revised Lespedeza formosa (J.R.T. Vogel) B.A.E. Koehne. Clewell (1966) monographed the native species of Lespedeza in North America. Although cleistogamous and chasmogamous flowers may produce slightly different fruits, these differences do not affect the genus circumscription of the fruits and seeds. Lespedeza stipulacea C.J. Maximowicz and L. striata C.P. Thunberg are now in the segregate genus Kummerowia (11.25). Akiyama and Ohba (1985) and Nemoto and Ohashi (1988) maintained Campylotropis (11.23), Kummerowia (11.25), and Lespedeza as distinct genera. Nemoto et al. (1995), using morphological and molecular evidence, concluded that "Lespedeza is closer to Kummerowia than to Campylotropis.".
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
