Lespedeza

Lespedeza
Inflorescence and foliage of L. thunbergii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Tribe: Desmodieae
Subtribe: Lespedezinae
Genus: Lespedeza
Michx.
Species

about 40, see text

Lespedeza is a genus of some 40 species (including nothospecies) of flowering plants in the pea family (Fabaceae), commonly known as bush clovers or (particularly East Asian species) Japanese clovers (hagi). The genus is native to warm temperate to subtropical regions of eastern North America, eastern and southern Asia and Australasia.

These shrubby plants or trailing vines belong to the "typical" legumes (Faboideae), with the peas and beans, though they are part of another tribe, the Desmodieae. Therein, they are treated as type genus of the smaller subtribe Lespedezinae, which unites the present genus and its presumed closest relatives, Campylotropis and Kummerowia.

Name of the plant

According to American botanist Asa Gray (1810 – 1888), the Lespedeza owes its name to governor of East Florida Vicente Manuel de Céspedes (1784-1790; who, through a letter, allowed to botanist André Michaux explore the East Florida in search of new species of plants, finding there to the Lespedeza[1]), but when Céspedes wrote the letter, at the beginning of it, the name of Céspedes was changed to "Zespedez". So, when the Michaux´s book Flora Boreali-Americana of 1802 was printed, the name "Céspedes" to refer to the plant was wrote as "Lespedez", word of which derived the current name of the plant.[2][1]

Cultivation and uses

Some species are grown as garden or ornamental plants, and are used as a forage crops, notably in the southern United States, and as a means of soil enrichment and for prevention of erosion. In some areas, certain species are invasive. Lespedeza, like other legumes, have root nodules that harbor bacteria capable of nitrogen fixation from the air into a soil-bound form that can be taken up by other plants. Growers can take advantage of this process by putting the plants in their fields to release nitrogen, so they can use less fertilizer.

L. bicolor leaves and roots contain l-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (lespedamin), as well as related Nω,Nω-DMTs and their oxides, as well as some bufotenin.[3]

Species

Lespedeza capitata inflorescences and leaves
Lespedeza cyrtobotrya flowering branch
Lespedeza maximowiczii

The species and nothospecies recognized in Lespedeza include:[4]

  • Lespedeza angustifolia (Pursh) Elliott
  • Lespedeza × angustifolioides T.B.Lee
  • Lespedeza bicolor Turcz. (syn. L. bicolor var. japonica Nakai)
  • Lespedeza buergeri Miq.
  • Lespedeza capitata Michx. (syn. L. frutescens Elliott, L. stuevei DC.)
  • Lespedeza caraganae Bunge
  • Lespedeza chinensis G.Don
  • Lespedeza cuneata (Dumont-Cours.) G. Don (syn Lespedeza Sericea)
  • Lespedeza cyrtobotrya Miq.
  • Lespedeza cyrtobuergeri Akiyama & H.Ohba
  • Lespedeza davidii Franch.
  • Lespedeza davurica (Laxm.) Schindl.
  • Lespedeza × divaricata (Nakai) T.B.Lee
  • Lespedeza dunnii Schindl.
  • Lespedeza elegans Cambess.
  • Lespedeza elliptica Benth.
  • Lespedeza fasciculiflora Franch.
  • Lespedeza floribunda Bunge (syn. L. bicolor Prain)
  • Lespedeza fordii Schindl.
  • Lespedeza forrestii Schindl.
  • Lespedeza gerardiana Maxim.
  • Lespedeza hirta (L.) Hornem.
    • Lespedeza hirta ssp. curtissii Clewell (syn. L. hirta Elliott)
  • Lespedeza homoloba Nakai
  • Lespedeza inschanica (Maxim.) Schindl.
  • Lespedeza intermedia (S.Watson) Britton (syn. L. frutescens (L.) Britton, L. frutescens var. acutifructa Farw.)
  • Lespedeza intermixta Makino (possibly a hybrid)
  • Lespedeza japonica L.H.Bailey
  • Lespedeza juncea (L.f.) Pers.
    • Lespedeza juncea var. sericea (Thunb.) Lace & Hauech (syn. L. cuneata (Dum.Cours.) G.Don)

  • Lespedeza junghuhniana Bakh.f.
  • Lespedeza kagoshimensis Hatus.
  • Lespedeza leptostachya A.Gray
  • Lespedeza maximowiczii R.C.Schneid.
  • Lespedeza melanantha Nakai
  • Lespedeza mucronata Ricker
  • Lespedeza × patentibicolor T.B.Lee
  • Lespedeza pilosa (Thunb.) Siebold & Zucc.
  • Lespedeza potaninii Vassilcz.
  • Lespedeza procumbens Michx.
  • Lespedeza pubescens Hayata
  • Lespedeza repens (L.) W.P.C.Barton
  • Lespedeza × simulata Mack. & Bush
  • Lespedeza speciosa Maxim.
  • Lespedeza stuevei Nutt.
  • Lespedeza texana Britton
  • Lespedeza thunbergii (DC.) Nakai (syn. L. elliptica Maxim., L. formosa (Vogel) Koehne, L. formosa ssp. elliptica (Maxim.) Akiyama & H.Ohba)
    • Lespedeza thunbergii var. var. thunbergii (DC.)Nakai (syn. L. patens Nakai, L. patens var. obtusifolia Nakai)
    • Lespedeza thunbergii var. velutina (Nakai) H.Ohashi (syn. L. intermedia Nakai, L. intermedia var. angustifolia Nakai)
  • Lespedeza tomentosa (Thunb.) Maxim. (syn. L. hirta Miq.)
  • Lespedeza violacea (L.) Pers.
  • Lespedeza virgata (Murray) DC.
  • Lespedeza virginica (L.) Britton (syn. L. angustifolia Darl.)
  • Lespedeza wilfordii Ricker

The identity and specific validity of L. schindleri is unclear.[5] In addition, there are some species formerly in this genus that are now placed elsewhere, typically in the Lespedezinae, for example, in genus Campylotropis. These include:[6]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Lespedeza – From Asia with a Spanish Twist!.
  2. S. Fralish, James; B. Franklin, Scott (February 2002). Taxonomy and Ecology of Woody Plants in North American Forests: Excluding. Page 568.
  3. Morimoto & Oshio (1965), Morimoto & Matsumoto (1966)
  4. ILDIS (2005), and see Wikispecies (26 August 2009) for nothospecies
  5. ILDIS (2005) contra Wikispecies (26 August 2009)
  6. ILDIS (2005)

References

Data related to Lespedeza at Wikispecies

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lespedeza.
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