Fruits and Seeds of Genera in the Subfamily Mimosoideae (Fabaceae)

Fruits and Seeds of Genera in the Subfamiiy Mimosoideae (Fabaceae)by Charles R. Gunn'The Fabaceae (Leguminosae of authors including Isely and Polhill, 1980)2 traditionally is divided into three subfamilies: Mimosoideae, Caesalpinioideae, and Fa boideae (Faboideae is Papilionoideae in Polhill et aI., 1981).The family comprises 650 genera, has 18,000 species, and is the largest flowering plant family after the Asteraceae and Orchidaceae.However, only the Poaceae rivals the Fabaceae in agricultural importance.The past, present, and future value of the Fabaceae (the legume family) has been documented recently by Duke (1981), Isely (1982), the National Academy of Scien<:es (1979), Skerman (1977), and Summerfield and Bunting (1980).Elias (1981), in an overview of the subfamily Mimosoi deae, noted that it comprises 64 genera, including 5 unnamed at that time, an unassigned genus, and an un assigned species, and approximately 3,000 species, dis tributed throughout tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate zones.Nearly two-thirds of the species are found in the genera Acacia l with 1,200, Mimosa with 400-500, and 1nga with 350-400 species.Over one-half of the mimosoid genera recognized in Polhill and Raven (1981) have 10 species or less; 11 of the genera, mostly African, are monotypic.The distributions and generic names and parameters in the section on Synopses of Fruit and Seed Characters are based on data from Pol hill and Raven, except as noted.