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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #122728
Title: LEGUME FRUITS AND SEEDS AND THE DELTA SOFTWARE SYSTEM.

Author
item Kirkbride, Joseph
item GUNN, CHARLES - BREVARD, NC
item DALLWITZ, MICHAEL - GIRALANG, AUSTRALIA

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A comprehensive database for the interactive identification of legume seeds and fruits to genus was developed. Retrieval of information on seeds, fruits, and distribution of legume genera can be customized according to the needs of the user. The legume family (Fabaceae or Leguminosae) includes 686 genera distributed between three subfamilies: Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae, and Faboideae. The Caesalpinioideae has 23% of the genera, Mimosoideae 11%, and Faboideae 66%. For each genus, the following characters were recorded in a DELTA-formatted database: 8 classification characters, 157 for fruits, 127 for seeds, 7 for distribution, 1 for notes, and 3 for metadata. There were 1,377 generic and 205 character images attached to the genera and characters, for verification of identifications and interpretation of the character states. More than 20 years ago, a preliminary character list was developed, and the generic classification of the first International Legume Conference was used. Data were collected in three stages corresponding to the three subfamilies, Mimosoideae, Caesalpinioideae and Faboideae. The subfamilial data were published as three printed volumes, and the united data were published electronically as a CD-ROM. Some interesting results for legume fruits and seeds are: The shortest legume fruit is in the genus Trifolium and is 0.1 cm long, and the longest legume fruit is in the genus Entada and is 200 cm long. The smallest legume seed is in the genus Ononis and is 0.5 mm long, and the largest legume seed is in the genus Mora and is 180 mm long.