Smirnowia

Taxonomy

Smirnowia A.A. von Bunge Trudy Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada (Acta Horti Petrop.) 4: 338. 1876.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.16.08.
Tribe: Galegeae.
Subtribe: Coluteinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legumelegume:
usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal sutures
; unilocular; 3.5 cm long; 2–2.5 cm wide; 2–2.5 cm thick (assumed because all fruits were seen from herbarium sheets); length less than twice as long as width; 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; asymmetrical; circular; with both sutures parallelly curved, or 1 straight and 1 curved suture; widest near middle or D-shaped; inflated; terete; without beak; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin with sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; tan to slightly reddish tan; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; reticulately veined and 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; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) at least 5; length transverse to fruit length; overlapping, or neither overlapping nor touching; in 2 or more series. Funiculus 2 mm long; of 1 length only; thick; curved, or hooked. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; tan.

Seed: 4–6 mm long; 3.5–5 mm wide; 1.5–2.5 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; 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; with 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; reddish brown, or tan, or orange; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim present. 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; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; 1–1.5 mm long; with margins straight, or curved; oblong; oblong; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; slightly mounded; similar color as testa; darker than testa; reddish brown, or tan (reddish); 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; yellow; 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 length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Turkestan.

Old World; Russia to Southwest Asia (Russia (Turkistan) to Asia (Afghanistan) to Turkistan).

Generic Notes

Polhill (1981h) noted that Smirnowia is "scarcely distinct from Sphaerophysa" (16.07).

Tribal Notes

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.