Fordia microphylla, Dunn, 2017

Song, Zhuqiu, Ouyang, Xuejun, Zuo, Lei & Huang, Zhongliang, 2017, The identity of Fordia microphylla and lectotypification of Millettia pulchra (Fabaceae: Millettieae), Phytotaxa 332 (1), pp. 51-58 : 53-54

Identity of Fordia microphylla

In the protologue, Wei (1989) stated Fordia microphylla is closely related to F. cauliflora , but differs by having usually only 2.5 cm long (rare 6 cm long) leaflets, undeveloped cataphylls, and axillary (“super-axillaris”) inflorescences. As keyed out to Chinese species of Fordia by Wei & Pedley (2010), they are also quite different in many other characters (including the stipules, leaflet number, leaflet shape, inflorescence length, flowers, and legumes).

Our examination of both literature and specimens showed that Fordia microphylla is perfectly consistent with Millettia pulchra in various characters ( Table 1, Figs. 1–3 ). Geesink (1984) concluded that Fordia can be distinguished from M. pulchra relatives in having caulinascent inflorescences and a lower number of ovules. But F. microphylla also has axillary inflorescences ( Fig. 3B ) and similar number of seeds with M. pulchra ( Figs. 2C, 2F , 3C ). Schot (1991) pointed out that Fordia and M. pulchra are different in the number, shape and hairiness of leaflets. However, in these characters F. microphylla clearly overlap with M. pulchra (see Table 1). In the genus Millettia, Dunn (1912) placed M. pulchra in the sect. “ Typicae ” that is not validly published according to Art. 22.2 ( Adema 2000). And F. microphylla also matches all characteristics of the section, including some important features, e.g. the stipellate leaves, axillary pseudoracemes, monadelphous stamens, and the Asian distribution.

...continued on the next page

Table 1. (Continued)

Millettia pulchra is more widely distributed than any other Millettia , with the geographic distribution extending from Northeast India to Southern China ( Dunn 1912, Wei & Pedley 2010). Seven varieties were recognized by Wei (1985, 1994) and Wei & Pedley (2010) under the species, mainly based on minute differences in the size, shape and hairiness of leaflets. A further comparison of holotype and isotypes suggests that Fordia microphylla is quite similar with Millettia pulchra var. pulchra ( Fig. 2 & 3 ), although some paratypes of F. microphylla probably belong to M. pulchra var. microphylla or M. pulchra var. parvifolia (see Fig. 1 ).

Based on analyses above, we conclude that Fordia microphylla is conspecific with the widely distributed species Millettia pulchra .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Millettia pulchra. A. specimen from Mengzi of Fordia microphylla annotated by Dunn: A. Henry 9439B (K000898195); B. specimen from Mengzi of Fordia microphylla: W. Hancock 1 (K000898197); C. isotype of Millettia pulchra var. microphylla: A. Henry 994 (NY00016350); D. isotype of Millettia pulchra var. parvifolia: M. K. Li 3097 (KUN0612457). Image Copyright of NY00016350: the C. V. Starr Virtual Herbarium, New York Botanical Garden (http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/). Image Copyright of K000898195 and K000898197: the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Image Copyright of KUN0612457: Herbarium of Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS (http://db.kun.ac.cn/). Used with permission.

FIGURE 2. Millettia pulchra. A–C. holotype of Fordia microphylla (S. W. Deng 90963, IBSC0180023), A. the whole, B. leaflets, C. young legumes; D–F.one of original material of Millettia pulchra var.pulchra (Wallich Cat. 5630, K000848693), D. the whole, E. leaflets, F. young legume. Scale bar = 1 cm. Image Copyright of K000848693: the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Used with permission.

FIGURE 3. Millettia pulchra var. pulchra. A–B. isotype of Fordia microphylla (S. W. Deng 90963, IBK00072408), A. the whole, B. axillary pseudoraceme; C–D. isotype of Fordia microphylla (S. W. Deng 90963, IBK00072407), C. young legumes, showing several seeds, D. the whole; E. lectotype of Millettia pulchra var. pulchra (Wallich Cat. 5630, K000848694). Image Copyright of K000848694: the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Used with permission.