''Pueraria'' is a genus of 15–20 species of

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

s native to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. The best known member is

kudzu Kudzu (; also called Japanese arrowroot or Chinese arrowroot) is a group of climbing, coiling, and trailing deciduous perennial vines native to much of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands, but invasive species, invasive in many ...

, also called Japanese arrowroot. The genus is named after 19th century Swiss botanist Marc Nicolas Puerari. The genus, as traditionally circumscribed, is

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

, with different species being more related to other species in the tribe

Phaseoleae The plant tribe Phaseoleae is one of the subdivisions of the legume subfamily Faboideae, in the unranked NPAAA clade. This group includes many of the beans cultivated for human and animal food, most importantly from the genera ''Glycine'', '' Ph ...

. Current research, reproduced below, splits the genus into five

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

s, one of which defines the current monophyletic genus.

Species

The genus ''Pueraria'' is highly polyphyletic; the below list is divided by clade following the result of A.N.Egan & B.Pan (2016).Earlier version, 2013 MSc thesis.
/ref> In 2015, the authors validly published their proposal in ''

Phytotaxa ''Phytotaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal for rapid publication on any aspect of systematic botany. It publishes on a wide range of subjects, but focuses on new species, monographs, floras, revisions, reviews, and typification issues. ...

''. , Kew

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

database accepts these names.

''Pueraria'' sensu stricto

''Pueraria''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

includes the vast majority of species in the genus. They fall into a single clade sister to or containing '' Nogra''. * ''P. alopecuroides'' Craib * ''P. calycina'' Franch. * ''P. candollei'' Benth. * '' P. edulis'' Pamp. * ''P. imbricata'' Maesen * ''P. lacei'' Craib * '' P. mirifica'' Airy Shaw & Suvat. (= ''P. candollei'' var. ''mirifica'' in Egan) * '' P. montana'' ( Lour.)

Merr. Elmer Drew Merrill (October 15, 1876 – February 25, 1956) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through ...

– US invasive population comes from a hybrid of more than one of the subspecies. ** ''Pueraria montana'' var. ''chinensis'' (Ohwi) Sanjappa & Pradeep (= ''P. chinensis'', although ILDS and the plant list instead consider ''P. thomsonii'' the synonym) ** ''Pueraria montana'' var. ''lobata'' (Willd.) Sanjappa & Pradeep (= ''P. lobata'') ** ''Pueraria montana'' var. ''thomsonii'' (Benth.) Wiersema ex D.B. Ward (= ''P. thomsonii'', missing in ILDS) * ''P. pulcherrima'' (Koord.) Koord.-Schum. * ''P. sikkimensis'' Prain * '' P. tuberosa'' (Roxb.ex Willd.) DC. – type species

Provisionally retained

The following are not included in the 2016 study due to insufficient material for sequencing. They are accepted by POWO. *'' P. bella'' Prain: conflicting proposals assigning either to the main clade or to ''

Neonotonia ''Neonotonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the ...

'' (morphology). * ''P. bouffordii'' H. Ohashi: presumably in the main clade (morphology). * ''P. grandiflora'' Bo Pan & Bing Liu: presumably in the main clade (morphology). * ''P. xyzhuii'' H. Ohashi & Iokawa: presumably in the main clade (morphology). The following are not included in Egan et al. 2016 for other reasons, but are accepted by Kew POWO: * ''P. garhwalensis'' L.R.Dangwal & D.S.Rawat: excluded per van der Maesen (2002) * ''P. neocaledonica'' Harms: not mentioned * ''P. maesenii'' Niyomdham: not mentioned

Former members

The rest of the genus fall into four clades, sorted by distance from the main clade: * ''

Neustanthus ''Neustanthus'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the pea family Fabaceae and its tribe Phaseoleae. The only species is ''Neustanthus phaseoloides'', called tropical kudzu. This species is a forage crop and cover crop used ...

'' Benth. – sister to '' Sinodolichos'' ** '' P. phaseoloides'' (

Roxb. William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. H ...

)

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

→ ''N. phaseoloides'' (Roxb.) Benth.

''P. edulis'', ''P. montana'', and ''N. phaseoloides'' make up what is known as

. The morphological differences between these species are subtle.

*** ''N. phaseoloides'' var. ''javanicus'' (= ''P. javanica'' (Benth.) Benth.) *** ''N. phaseoloides'' var. ''phaseoloides'' *** ''N. phaseoloides'' var. ''subspicatus'' * '' Teyleria'' ** ''P. stricta'' Kurz → ''T. stricta'' * '' Toxicopueraria'' A.N.Egan & B.Pan – sister to '' Cologania'' ** ''P. peduncularis'' Grah. → ''T. peduncularis'' ** ''P. yunnanensis'' Franchet.→ ''T. yunnanensis'' * '' Haymondia'' A.N.Egan & B.Pan – notably lies out of Glycininae near Kennediinae; known for a long time to be misplaced ** '' P. wallichii'' DC. → ''H. wallichii'' The following names are not accepted even before Egan 2016 but have seen valid publication: * ''P. omeiensis'' Wang et Tang – ''P. montana'': unaccepted name after Mount Omei. * ''P. stracheyi'' Baker → ''

Apios carnea ''Apios'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is P ...

'' (Wall.) Benth. ex Baker. * ''P. maclurei'' (F. P. Metcalf) F. J. Herm. → '' Sinodolichos lagopus'' – still accepted by WFO

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q133126 Fabaceae genera Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle