Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.16.17.
Tribe: Galegeae.
Subtribe: Astragalinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 31 studied; ca. 300 in genus.
Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.8–4 cm long; 0.3–0.8 cm wide; 0.3 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit, or longer than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight, or curved (or slightly curved); not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; oblong, or linear, or circular, or falcate, or C-shaped; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated, or inflated; compressed, or terete; with beak; straight, or declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex, or tapered at apex, or long tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; long tapered at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous, or membranous, or coriaceous, or ligneous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin with sulcus (seed bearing suture more or less intruded but legume undivided); margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate, or substipitate, or stipitate; with the stipe 0.1–15 mm long; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along 1 suture, or both sutures; apical and down; passive, or active; with valves twisting (loosely). Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; mottled; brown; with purple overlay; mottling color combination constant; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs appressed, or erect; with 1 type of pubescence, or 2 types of pubescence; puberulent, or villous, or velutinous; with pubescence golden, or gray and black; with gray and black hairs intermixed; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; glandular, or eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined, or transversely veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; wrinkled; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present, or absent; thin, or thick; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous, or chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull, or glossy; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth, or cobwebby; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous, or coriaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; separating into 1-seeded winged segments. Seed(s) (3–)5–11; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 2 or more series, or 1 series. Funiculus 1 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; S-curved, or curved. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; reddish brown.
Seed: 0.75–3.5 mm long; 1–1.5 mm wide; 0.5–1 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; mitaform, or reniform, or circular, or quadrangular; 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; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled and streaked; with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; brown to reddish to greenish or pinkish brown, or tan, or yellow (greenish), or orange, or olive, or green, or black; with black overlay, or purple overlay; glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; rugose, or shagreen; 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; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim, or within halo; halo lighter than testa. Lens discernible; with margins curved; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum, or confluent with hilum; 0.2 mm from hilum; mounded; similar color as testa; darker than testa; reddish brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick; 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; 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; bulbose; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.
Barneby (1952) monographed the North American species, and noted that only two species have been found, from 1802 to 1951, that challenged the original circumscription of Oxytropis. Oxytropis has an "introflexion of the pod's ventral suture, as opposed to the muticous keel of Phaca and Astragalus, with their pods unilocular or bilocular (from the dorsal suture) respectively." Phaca C. Linnaeus is subsumed into Astragalus (16.15). Fedchenko et al. (1948) reported on the species in Russia, and Ulziykhutag (1979) summarized the 78 Mongolian species in 17 sections. The testa surfaces and transverse sections of O. riparia D.I. Litvinov and O. campestris (C. Linnaeus) A.P. de Candolle were studied using SEM (Solum and Lockerman, 1991). Pandey and Jha (1988) also reported on testa micrographs of three species of Oxytropis, including O. compestris.
Tribe Galegeae
Traditionally this tribe has been called Galegeae. Reveal (1997) reported that the name Astragaleae was published before the name Galegeae. Following the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Greuter et al., 1994), the oldest name for a taxon must be used, so Reveal suggested that this tribe should be called Astragaleae. In 1999 Reveal (1999) reversed himself, so that this tribe remains the Galegeae. Welsh (1960) reported on the Galegeae of north-central United States. Sanderson and Liston (1995) carried out cladistic analyses of Galegeae genera using molecular data. They concluded that Galegeae is paraphyletic having given rise to tribes Cicereae (20), Hedysareae (18), Trifolieae (21), and Fabeae (19), and therefore requiring a re-evaluation of the circumscription of Galegeae. Heenan (1995, 1998c), utilizing unpublished nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS data, concluded that "Carmichaelia (17.05) is nested within (the) 'Astragalean clade' of Galegeae" and is the sister group of Clianthus. He therefore supported the proposal of Sanderson and Wojciehowski (1996) that Carmichaelieae should not be recognized at tribal level, but rather included in Galegeae.
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
