XVI International Botanical Congess

Alysicarpus Desv., a herbaceous legume genus, represented by c. 30 species in tropics and subtropics, is represented by c. 22 taxa (14 species 8 varieties) in India. Genus as such remained neglected and poorly studied even morphologically. Taxonomic treatment so far (Baker and Schindler) is based on only morphological parameters. Considering this lacuna, additional parameters are exploited for procuring data, during present studies. These are: stipule, stipel, bract, bracteole and calyx morphology, dermatological, anatomical and vessel studies, pollen grains, seed protein profiles, spermoderm patterns etc. Based on this data, together with morphological data, about 50 contrasting characters were employed for numerical treatment. The most suitable dendrogram procured is the basis for relationships and grouping of taxa discussed in present paper.