ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 4787
Poster No. = 595


SYSTEMATIC BOTANY OF THE GENUS ENTADA ADANS.


Smart Lungi, Soil Productivity Research Programme, Misamfu Regional Research Centre, Kasama, Zambia


A revision of the genus Entada was made using data from gross morphology, seed and seedling morphology, palynology, anatomy and phytochemistry. A study of seed morphology allowed delimitation of closely-related species in this genus while seedling morphology enabled recognition of species even by first leaf morphology. Entada exhibits two germination patterns, climbers show epigynous germination, while trees and shrubs have hypogynous germination. Entada has tricolporate pollen grains with uniform morphology within sections. Pollen morphology exhibited by Entada shows links to the Caesalpinioideae. Among the vegetative characters studied were: habit, form, size and surface of the leaf, rachis and stem. Vegetative morphology was found to be useful in delimiting species in the genus. Reproductive characters separated species very well even those that could not be separated vegetatively. The genus has been recognized to consist of 30 species (out of which 21 occur in Africa, 6 in Asia and 2 in America while one of them occurs in all three continents) and 3 subspecies. These are classified into 8 sections of which section Suffruticosa is newly described. The genus has been split into two subgenera.


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