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 Edit this 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]
  • Bujacia E.Mey. (1836)
  • Glycine L. (1753), nom. rej.
  • Zeydora Lour. ex Gomes Mach. (1868)

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 edit

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, Kew Plants of the World Online database accepts these names.[1]

Pueraria sensu stricto edit

Pueraria sensu stricto includes the vast majority of species in the genus. They fall into a single clade sister to or containing Nogra.[6]

Provisionally retained edit

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 edit

The rest of the genus fall into four clades, sorted by distance from the main clade:[6]

P. edulis, P. montana, and N. phaseoloides make up what is known as kudzu. The morphological differences between these species are subtle.[12]

The following names are not accepted even before Egan 2016 but have seen valid publication:

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Pueraria DC. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Pueraria DC". Flora of Pakistan.
  3. ^ "Plants Profile for Pueraria montana (kudzu)". USDA. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Pueraria montana var. lobata". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  5. ^ Lee, J; Hymowitz, T. (2001). "A Molecular Phylogenetic Study of the Subtribe Glycininae (Leguminosae) Derived from the Chloroplast DNA RPS16 Intron Sequences". American Journal of Botany. 88 (11). Botanical Society of America: 2064–2073. doi:10.2307/3558432. JSTOR 3558432. PMID 21669638.
  6. ^ a b c d e Egan, Ashley N.; Vatanparast, Mohammad; Cagle, William (November 2016). "Parsing polyphyletic Pueraria: Delimiting distinct evolutionary lineages through phylogeny". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 104: 44–59. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.08.001. hdl:10342/4191. PMID 27495827. Earlier version, 2013 MSc thesis.
  7. ^ Egan, Ashley N.; Pan, Bo (3 July 2015). "Resolution of polyphyly in Pueraria (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae): The creation of two new genera, Haymondia and Toxicopueraria, the resurrection of Neustanthus, and a new combination in Teyleria". Phytotaxa. 218 (3): 201. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.218.3.1.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Pueraria". Chinese Plant Names.
  9. ^ "Search results: pueraria montana chinensis". The Plant List.
  10. ^ Sun, J. H.; Li, Z.-C.; Jewett, D. K.; Britton, K. O.; Ye, W. H.; Ge, X.-J. (2005). "Genetic Diversity of Pueraria lobata (Kudzu) and Closely Related Taxa as Revealed by Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat Analysis". Weed Research. 45 (4): 255–260. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3180.2005.00462.x.
  11. ^ "Pueraria DC". Taiwan Plant Names.
  12. ^ Jewett, D. K.; Jiang, C. J.; Britton, K. O.; Sun, J. H.; Tang, J. (2003). "Characterizing Specimens of Kudzu and Related Taxa with RAPD's". Castanea. 68 (3). Southern Appalachian Botanical Society: 254–260. ISSN 0008-7475. JSTOR 4034173.
  13. ^ "Pueraria omeiensis T.Tang & Wang". World Flora Online.

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