Alysicarpus Desv.

Legumes of the World. Edited by G. Lewis, B. Schrire, B. MacKinder & M. Lock. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (2005)

Note

The tribe Desmodieae as treated by Ohashi et al. (1981) comprised 27 genera and c. 540 species in three subtribes, the Bryinae, Desmodiinae and Lespedezinae. Molecular analyses by Bailey et al. (1997) and Doyle et al. (2000) show that Bryinae has affinities elsewhere; Lavin et al. (2001a) place it within the Pterocarpus clade of the Dalbergieae sens. lat. (see page 309). The Bryinae are therefore removed from the Desmodieae here, as are two genera formerly placed in subtribe Lespedezinae; Phylacium Benn. and Neocollettia Hemsl., which are moved to tribe Phaseoleae (see page 393) on morphological, palynological and molecular evidence (Doyle et al., 2000; Kajita et al., 2001). The two remaining subtribes of Desmodieae are recognised in this treatment as three groups, the Lespedeza, Phyllodium and Desmodium groups, based on results of an analysis of the chloroplast gene rbcL (Kajita et al., 2001). The Phyllodium and Desmodium groups correspond to subtribe Desmodiinae, and the Lespedeza group to subtribe Lespedezinae (with Campylotropis now comprising 37 instead of 65 species as in Ohashi et al., 1981).

Desmodieae as circumscribed here comprises 30 genera and (524)–527–(530) species (Fig. 48). The tribe occurs in the tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of the world, but extends into the cool temperate and sub-boreal regions of E Asia and N America (except W of the Rocky Mountains). At generic level subtribe Desmodiinae is most diverse in tropical S and SE Asia (Dy Phon et al., 1994), while temperate E Asia (Yang & Huang, 1995) and N America (Isely, 1998) are the centres of diversity of subtribe Lespedezinae. The tribe occurs widely from coastal to montane areas, but not at high altitudes. Species are most commonly shrubs or subshrubs, sometimes herbs, rarely trees and are usually erect and 3-foliolate.

The Desmodieae have been considered similar to tribe Phaseoleae (Polhill, 1981a) and were recently shown to be a monophyletic lineage included within Phaseoleae sens. lat. (Fig. 47, page 394), closely related to subtribe Kennediinae (Doyle & Doyle, 1993, Bruneau et al., 1995; Doyle et al., 1997) and possibly sister to Mucuna (Bailey et al., 1997; Doyle et al., 2000; Kajita et al., 2001).

Habit

Herbs

Ecology

Seasonally dry tropical woodland, wooded grassland and grassland, often in seasonally wet or open sandy and ruderal areas

Distribution

Africa (c. 10 spp., c. 5 endemic), India, Indo-China, Malesia, China, E Asia and Japan (c. 20 spp.) and Australia (8 spp., c. 2 endemic); endemic species are mostly in India (15 spp.)

Leguminosae, J. B. Gillett, R. M. Polhill & B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971

Morphology General Habit

Annual or perennial, erect or decumbent herbs

Morphology Leaves

Leaves 1-foliolate, less often pinnately 3-foliolate; petiole channelled, winged; stipules scarious, acuminate, persistent, free or connate; stipels present, persistent

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences terminal, axillary or leaf-opposed, falsely racemose or less often paniculate, the flowers mostly paired; bracts scarious, mostly at length falling; bracteoles absent

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx scarious, persistent, appearing 4-lobed, the lobes subequal, striate, the upper lobe entire or slightly bifid, consisting of the 2 upper calyx teeth entirely or almost entirely connate

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Corolla small, mostly pinkish or purplish; standard ovate, rounded or obovate, produced into a claw, with 2 small longitudinal folds near the base inside; wings obliquely oblong, adhering to the keel, the petals of which are often appendaged

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens

Vexillary stamen free in the fully developed flower; free parts of the filaments alternately long and short; anthers uniform

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil

Ovary sessile or shortly stipitate, with several to many ovules; style filiform, incurved at the apex; stigma broadly capitate

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Pods linear-oblong, at least in outline, mostly several-jointed, the margins straight or the pod constricted between the segments, which are indehiscent, compressed, subcylindrical or rounded, mostly with a raised reticulation of ridges

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds subglobose; hilum minute, without a rim-aril.

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit

Annual or perennial herbs

Morphology Leaves

Leaves 1-foliolate or rarely pinnately 3-foliolate

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences terminal or axillary, falsely racemose or rarely paniculate; bracts scarious

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx scarious, the 2 upper calyx-lobes connate and the calyx appears 4-lobed

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens Anthers

Anthers uniform

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Pods linear-oblong, mostly several-jointed; articles indehiscent.

Distribution

Some 40 species in the Old World tropics.

Leguminosae, B. Verdcourt. Flora Zambesiaca 3:6. 2000

Morphology General Habit

Annual or perennial, erect or decumbent herbs.

Morphology Leaves

Leaves 1-foliolate, less often pinnately 3-foliolate; petiole channelled, winged; stipules scarious, acuminate, persistent, free or connate; stipels present, persistent.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences terminal, axillary or leaf-opposed, falsely racemose or less often paniculate, the flowers mostly paired; bracts scarious, at length falling; bracteoles absent.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx scarious, persistent, appearing 4-lobed, the lobes subequal, striate, the upper lobe entire or slightly 2-fid, consisting of the 2 upper calyx teeth entirely or almost entirely connate.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Corolla small, mostly pinkish or purplish; standard ovate, rounded or obovate, produced into a claw, with 2 small longitudinal folds near the base inside; wings obliquely oblong, adhering to the keel, the petals of which are often appendaged.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens

Vexillary stamen free in the fully developed flower; free parts of the filaments alternately long and short; anthers uniform.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil

Ovary sessile or shortly stipitate, with several to many ovules; style filiform, incurved at the apex; stigma broadly capitate.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit linear-oblong, at least in outline, mostly several-jointed, the margins straight or the fruit constricted between the segments (articles), which are indehiscent, compressed, subcylindrical or rounded, mostly with a raised reticulation of ridges.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds subglobose; hilum minute, without a rim-aril.

Use

Some species are cultivated as fodder plants.