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Type: Article
Published: 2021-06-09
Page range: 183–190
Abstract views: 26
PDF downloaded: 1

Millettia puerarioides Prain (Fabaceae: Millettieae), a species with cauliflorous inflorescences newly recorded from China

Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, P. R. China.
Center for Integrative Conservation, Core Botanical Gardens, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla 666303, P. R. China.
Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, P. R. China.
Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences & Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, P.R. China.
Yunnan Tongbiguan Provincial Nature Reserve, Dehong 678400, P. R. China.
Yunnan Tongbiguan Provincial Nature Reserve, Dehong 678400, P. R. China.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, Protection and Utilization, Guangdong Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou 510520, P. R. China.
cauliflory China Leguminosae Myanmar taxonomy Fabaceae Eudicots

Abstract

Millettia puerarioides Prain within the tribe Millettieae (Fabaceae) is a poorly known species and it was previously reported only from Myanmar. This species was recently found also in Yingjiang, Yunnan Province, China. The inflated pods with large seeds place it in Millettia section Macrosperma Dunn, but specimen examination and field investigations showed that it has inflorescences arising from leafless nodes and directly from the trunk (i.e. rami- and caulinascent inflorescences), which is similar to the species in the genus Fordia from the same tribe. This inflorescence type has been considered to be a rare character for Asian plants of the subfamily Papilionoideae, showing the close connection between Millettia and Fordia.