Morphological characters of genus Chamaecrista Moench and its species from Maharashtra

Three species of Chamaecrista i.e. Chamaecrista absus, Chamaecrista pumila, and Chamaecrista mimosoides were collected from different localities of Maharashtra. Morphometric studies were performed with various quantitative characters i.e. dimensions of leaflets, petiole, petals, pods and seeds with the aim to search stable, distinct and diagnostic characters for the identification of this genus and their species. Qualitative characters were also considered. The morphological characters were found to be sufficient to segregate Chamaecrista from the genus Cassia. It was concluded that the species of Chamaecrista were distinct and could be delimited on the basis of morphological characters