Pueraria

Taxonomy

Pueraria A.P. de Candolle Ann. Sci. Nat. (Paris) 4: 97. Jan 1825.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.10.32.
Tribe: Phaseoleae.
Subtribe: Glycininae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 7 studied; 16 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legumelegume:
usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal sutures
; unilocular; 1.5–13 cm long; 0.3–1.2 cm wide; 0.3–0.5 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide, or more than 9 times longer than wide; with persistent androecial sheath, or 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, or curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; linear, or moniliform, or falcate; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; narrowest near middle, B-shaped; not inflated; flattened, or compressed; with beak; straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; long tapered at apex, or tapered at apex, or short tapered at apex, or rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base, or short tapered at base, or rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous, or coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted, or constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins, or slightly constricted only on 1 margin; margin without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with thickened sutural areas; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; black, or brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect, or appressed; with 1 type of pubescence, or 2 types of pubescence; pilose, or puberulent, or velutinous; with pubescence brown; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs, or simple hairs and complex hairs; with bristle-like hairs; pliable; with hair bases swollen, or plain; retrorse and straight; straight at apex; eglandular; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not veined; irregularly veined; not tuberculate; striate, or wrinkled; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present, or absent; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous to chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull to glossy; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate to nonseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp, or separating from mesocarp (partially); remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) (1–)5–20; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.5–1 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened; triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril, or rim-aril and tongue-aril; entire; cream.

Seed: 2–3 mm long, or 7–9 mm long; ca. 1.5 mm wide, or 5–6 mm wide; 1 mm thick, or 2.5–3 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; oblong, or reniform (irregularly); terete to compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes (slightly), or without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; 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, or partially adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with frequent mottles; black, or brown; with black overlay; glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features, or recessed features; minutely tuberculate; pitted with small separate pits; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 0.6–1.5 mm long; with curved outline; circular to elliptic to oval; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed; within rim; rim color darker than testa. Lens discernible; 0.5–1.7 mm long; with margins straight; linear; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; recessed; similar color as testa; darker than testa; brown; within corona; corona color darker than testa. Endosperm present; thick to trace; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo, or restricted to region of embryo; adnate to testa, or embryo. Cotyledons not smooth; 1–3 grooves on each face; outer face of one cotyledon flat and other cotyledon convex, or 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; partially concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; white to yellow to green; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose, or triangular; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Asia and two species widely distributed in the subtropics, Including the United States, the West Indies, Mexico, and Central and South America as a weed.

Old World; Southwest Asia, Japan, Indian Ocean, India, Indochina, Indonesia and the Philippines, Australia, Pacific, China, New Guinea, and Korea (introduced in Africa and Australia in Old World and the United States, West Indies, Mexico, and Central and South America as a weed).

Generic Notes

van der Maesen (1985, 1994) monographed Pueraria, and his species number is used, not the 20 species of Lackey (1981).

Tribal Notes

Tribe Phaseoleae

Bruneau et al. (1995) carried out cladistic analyses of tribe Phaseoleae using chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Their results indicated that the tribe is not monophyletic and that the tribal delimitations between Phaseoleae and Desmodieae (11) and between Phaseoleae and Millettieae (7) are problematic.