Leguminosae
Future Plans
Collections (2006 onwards)
We will continue to ensure that the Herbarium collections represent all genera recognised in the family and we will target for collecting trips geographical regions that increase species representation. We are currently negotiating a legume exchange programme with Colombia under the guidance of the Conventions and Policies team at Kew.
We will continue to name incoming specimens in a timely fashion and make all material accessible to users through quality curation. The legume team is encouraging debate that will seek ways to better reward specialist naming of legumes and curation of all associated collections.
Baseline Plant Diversity Research (2006 onwards)
Flora Zambesiaca legumes will be completed and the final three volumes published (volume 3, part 2, subfamily Caesalpinioideae, covering 157 species, in 2006; volume 3, part 3, Papilionoid tribes Swartzieae to Robinieae, with 210 species, in 2007; and volume 3, part 4 containing the Indigofereae, with c. 180 spieces, by the end of 2008).
The team will develop an electronic version of the book Legumes of the World (LOWO: Legumes of the World Online) so that new information can be included on a regular basis, and the book can ultimately go live on the Web. The first phase of this project began in September 2006 with the assistance of a one year sandwich student from Birmingham University Bioinformatics Department.
A revision of the 300 species of South African Indigofera will be undertaken.
Seven new tropical African legume trees have been recently discovered: four Berlinia species and three Hymenostegia species. A revision of the genus Guibourtia will be completed.
Two papers on neotropical Acacia are to be published before the end of 2007. One is a revision of the segregate genus Acaciella, and the other an annotated checklist of all 161 neotropical species.
Barbara Mackinder will continue to compile, edit, and globally distribute the annual newsletter Bean Bag. All back numbers are to be made accessible on the Web.
The team will continue to facilitate UK legume networking through annual legume workshops. The next is to be held in November 2006 at the Jodrell Laboratory of Kew.
Comparative Plant Biology (2006 onwards)
Nigel Veitch was commissioned to write a review article entitled “Isoflavonoids of the Leguminosae 1997-2004” for the Royal Society of Chemistry Journal, Natural Product Reports to be published in 2006-7 (Impact Factor 7.890). A preliminary survey of the literature on isoflavonoids for the period indicates that there are approximately 450 new examples of these compounds, more than 90% of which originate from the Leguminosae. The use of molecular techniques (DNA sequencing) in the same period has led to advances in legume systematics which have been incorporated into the recently published volume, Legumes of the World. This will be used as the reference point for the taxonomy underpinning the review. All the major isoflavonoid subclasses will be surveyed, including their glycosides, dimers, heterodimers and oligomers.
Another focus for phytochemical investigations will be genera currently classified in the tribes Sophoreae and Swartzieae of subfamily Papilionoideae which are now thought to comprise an unnatural assemblage, with several genera having closer affinities with other legume tribes and generic groupings than with core Sophoreae and Swartzieae. Modern analytical techniques, such as the combination of high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry, will be used in these studies to examine small fragments of herbarium material. This approach will help determine whether an uncommon compound described from a given taxon occurs in other previously unstudied taxa that are now thought to be related. Another approach will be to undertake detailed phytochemical characterisation of taxa cultivated at RBG Kew through the isolation of compounds and their structural elucidation by in-house NMR spectroscopy. This approach may reveal new phytochemical characters that can then be investigated in a systematic framework.
A benchmark paper based on ITS sequences of over 320 of the 800 known species of Indigofereae combined with a matrix of 80 morphological characters will be submitted in 2007.
A monograph of the genus Berlinia, to include the results of a phylogenetic investigation, was submitted as a PhD thesis to the University of Edinburgh in October 2006. The monograph is to be submitted for publication in 2007 and to include conservation assessments of all species.
A full taxonomic revision of 'core Hymenostegia' is to be completed and to include conservation assessments. Depending on the results of a phylogenetic investigation, the publication of a number of generic segregates may be required.
A new classification of subfamily Caesalpinioideae is to be submitted for publication, based on the findings of a series of analyses of multiple data-sets. This multi-national collaborative project (Phylogeny and Evolution of Caesalpinioid Legumes) is funded by the National Science Foundation of the USA and has already generated a series of publications.
The team will lead on data gathering and analysis of the biogeography of legumes, building on a number of previously published ground-breaking papers on legume biomes and patterns of legume distribution.
A new project will examine the pollen of mimosoid species in Madagascar. The pollen of the Mimosoideae is known to largely occur in polyads. There are, however, some mimosoid species in which pollen is released as individual grains, and such species occur amongst lower branching mimosoid lineages as sister taxa to other species that release their pollen in polyads. The project will examine whether there are observable ecological distributions that explain these differences in endemic mimosoid species of Madagascar. RBG Kew has particular expertise in producing and analysing GIS data for Madagascar, and this will be utilised in this study. The developmental mechanism of polyad formation is at present unknown and also requires elucidation.
A survey of the pollen of Polygalaceae is currently being prepared for publication. No previous systematic account of pollen in Polygalaceae has been published.
The study of the wood anatomy of papilionoid legumes will continue with a survey of the remaining woody tribes and gaps at the generic level will be addressed by actively seeking out new wood accessions.
The team will continue to make major contributions at international scientific conferences.
Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Resources (2006 onwards)
The legume team will continue to investigate bioactive molecules from legumes and continue to research into legume-derived compounds of importance to medicine and agriculture.
A collaborative NE Brazilian fuelwood project will be completed and the results of the study published, including a sustainable management plan for fuelwood production from caatinga vegetation. The survey includes a number of legumes in the genera Caesalpinia and Mimosa.
Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (2006 onwards)
The collection of legume seeds will continue to be a major focus of Kew`s Millennium Seed Bank, especially in the drylands of South America and parts of Africa. Legume collecting programmes within the drylands constitute a large component of Kew's ex situ conservation work. 46 endemic legume species for the Flora regions T2 and T6 in Tanzania were targeted for collection in 2006. The legume staff of the Herbarium, in particular, will integrate with the MSB seed collecting teams to target key legumes in various countries. The production of a taxonomic identification guide for the legumes of Botswana is to be considered.
The team will contribute conservation assessments for legume species published in papers, Floras and monographs authored or co-authored by Kew staff.
All Berlinia and Hymenostegia (sensu lato) species (total c. 35) will have Red Data assessments submitted by the end of 2007.
Legume contributions to the Kew published Cameroon Conservation Checklist series will continue.