Parochetus

Taxonomy

Parochetus F. Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 240. 1 Feb 1825.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.21.02.
Tribe: Trifolieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 2 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.5–2.3 cm long; 0.4–0.5 cm wide; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; linear, or oblong (narrowly); inflated; 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; coriaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; with all layers dehiscing (to tardily dehiscent); splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; dark brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; rarely pilose; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; faintly 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; dull; opaque; monochrome; greenish tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 4–15; length transverse to fruit length; in 2 or more series. Funiculus of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 1.5–2.5 mm long; 1.4–2 mm wide; 1–1.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; oblong; compressed; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between 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, or mottled and streaked; with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; blackish brown; with brown 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; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; recessed; within rim; rim color slightly darker than testa. Lens not discernible, or discernible (barely sometimes); with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.5 mm from hilum; flush; similar color as testa, or dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; reddish brown. Endosperm present; quite 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; white; 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; glabrous.

Distribution

Tropical Africa, Asia (Himalaya Mountains to Sri Lanka and east China) to Indonesia (southeast Java), and cultivated in Europe.

Old World; Africa to India to Indochina to Indonesia and the Philippines to China (Africa (tropical) to Asia (Himalaya Mountains to Sri Lanka) to Indonesia (southeast Java)).

Old World crop (Europe).

Generic Notes

For additional information, See the Notes for Ononis (21.01). Polhill in Beckett and Polhill (1991) named a second species, P. africanus R.M. Polhill.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Trifolieae

Endo and Ohashi (1997) have proposed, after a cladistic analysis using morphological characters, including internal seed morphology, that Cicereae (20) and Fabeae (19) formed a monophyetic group whose sister group is Trifolieae. Ononis and Parochetus (21.02) "are not nearly as closely related to the remaining four genera as the latter are to each other, and indeed that the two genera are not at all closely related to each other (or so far as I know to anything else)" (E. Small, pers. comm. 1997). Butler (1996) presented a table with eight seed characteristics of 14 Medicago (21.05) spp., seven Melilotus (21.03) spp., 25 Trifolium (21.06) spp., 11 Trigonella (21.04) spp., and two Ononis spp. as an aid for their identification in archaeological sites.