Pueraria
Genus of legumes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pueraria is a genus of 15–20[2] species of legumes native to south, east, and southeast Asia and to New Guinea and northern Australia.[1] The best known member is kudzu, also called Japanese arrowroot.[3][4] The genus is named after 19th century Swiss botanist Marc Nicolas Puerari.
| Pueraria | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pueraria phaseoloides | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Clade: | Millettioids |
| Tribe: | Phaseoleae |
| Subtribe: | Glycininae |
| Genus: | Pueraria DC. (1825) |
| Species[1] | |
|
18; see text | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Plants in the genus are lianas, shrubs, or climbing herbs, usually with large tuberous roots. Typical habitats include seasonally-dry tropical and subtropical forest, rain forest, forest margins, and scrub vegetation, often on limestone outcrops and in rocky areas.[1]
The genus, as traditionally circumscribed, is polyphyletic, with different species being more related to other species in the tribe Phaseoleae.[5] Current research, reproduced below, splits the genus into five clades, one of which defines the current monophyletic genus.[6]
Species
The genus Pueraria is highly polyphyletic; the below list is divided by clade following the result of A.N.Egan & B.Pan (2016).[6] In 2015, the authors validly published their proposal in Phytotaxa.[7] As of February 2022[update], Kew Plants of the World Online database accepts these names.[1]
Pueraria sensu stricto
Pueraria sensu stricto includes the vast majority of species in the genus. They fall into a single clade sister to or containing Nogra.[6]
- P. alopecuroides Craib
- P. calycina Franch.
- P. candollei Benth.
- P. edulis Pamp.[8]
- P. imbricata Maesen
- P. lacei Craib
- P. mirifica Airy Shaw & Suvat. (= P. candollei var. mirifica in Egan)
- P. montana (Lour.) Merr.[8][9] – US invasive population comes from a hybrid of more than one of the subspecies.[10]
- Pueraria montana var. chinensis (Ohwi) Sanjappa & Pradeep (= P. chinensis, although ILDS and the plant list instead consider P. thomsonii the synonym)
- Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.) Sanjappa & Pradeep (= P. lobata)
- Pueraria montana var. thomsonii (Benth.) Wiersema ex D.B. Ward (= P. thomsonii, missing in ILDS)
- P. pulcherrima (Koord.) Koord.-Schum.
- P. sikkimensis Prain
- P. tuberosa (Roxb.ex Willd.) DC. – type species[2]
Provisionally retained
The following are not included in the 2016 study due to insufficient material for sequencing. They are accepted by POWO.[6][1]
- P. bella Prain: conflicting proposals assigning either to the main clade or to Neonotonia (morphology).
- P. bouffordii H. Ohashi: presumably in the main clade (morphology).
- P. grandiflora Bo Pan & Bing Liu: presumably in the main clade (morphology).
- P. xyzhuii H. Ohashi & Iokawa: presumably in the main clade (morphology).
The following are not included in Egan et al. 2016 for other reasons, but are accepted by Kew POWO:[1]
- P. garhwalensis L.R.Dangwal & D.S.Rawat: excluded per van der Maesen (2002)
- P. neocaledonica Harms: not mentioned
Former members
The rest of the genus fall into four clades, sorted by distance from the main clade:[6]
- Neustanthus Benth. – sister to Sinodolichos
- P. phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth.[8][11] → N. phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth.
P. edulis, P. montana, and N. phaseoloides make up what is known as kudzu. The morphological differences between these species are subtle.[12]
- N. phaseoloides var. javanicus (= P. javanica (Benth.) Benth.)
- N. phaseoloides var. phaseoloides
- N. phaseoloides var. subspicatus
- P. phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth.[8][11] → N. phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth.
- Teyleria
- P. stricta Kurz → T. stricta
- Toxicopueraria A.N.Egan & B.Pan – sister to Cologania
- P. peduncularis Grah.[8] → T. peduncularis
- P. yunnanensis Franchet.→ T. yunnanensis
- Haymondia A.N.Egan & B.Pan – notably lies out of Glycininae near Kennediinae; known for a long time to be misplaced
- P. wallichii DC. → H. wallichii
The following names are not accepted even before Egan 2016 but have seen valid publication:
- P. omeiensis Wang et Tang – P. montana:[13] unaccepted name after Mount Omei.[8]
- P. stracheyi Baker → Apios carnea (Wall.) Benth. ex Baker.
- P. maclurei (F. P. Metcalf) F. J. Herm. → Sinodolichos lagopus – still accepted by WFO
