Review of the genus alysicarpus desv.

Alysicarpus Desv. (Fabaceae), a herbaceous genus, is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. However, by and large it remained rather neglected genus. Because of variability in vegetative characters and loosely applied morphological terminology it was considered as rather intricate genus. It is represented by about 35 species and 15 varieties. India is chief center of distribution as more than 50% taxa are represented herein. Studies on various parameters are scanty for this genus. Nomenclature, especially of Indian taxa was quite messy because of wrong identity and differential treatments. Attempts made by earlier workers settled several problems of identity and nomenclature. Besides morphological, palynological and cytological parameters; nutrient contents and medicinal properties were studied by few authors, while seed morphology, seed coat anatomy, spermoderm pattern, embryology and chemical studies were studied by others. Recently stomatal studies, anatomy, pollination biology, evolution and relationships of species were studied by the author. Classification of the genera for Indian taxa was also provided. After a long time, detail classification was attempted. Present review article analyses the work done so far and pointed out lacunae, shortcomings and quantum of work to be done.