Two species of Vigna (Leguminosae, Phaseolinae) with ornamental potential native to Argentina: V. adenantha and V. candida

HOC, PATRICIA SUSANA

BUENOS AIRES

Simposio; VII Internacional Symposium New Horticultural Crops.; 2011

IHSH

Eight species of Vigna Savi (Leguminosae) are represented in Argentina (Palacios and Hoc, 2001). The populations of both species develop, at the east, along the river edges forests (Paranaense Province, sensu Cabrera,1976), but only the populations of V. adenantha (G.F.W. Meyer) Maréchal, Mascherpa & Stainier reach Buenos Aires; at the west they grow in the first slopes of the cloud forests of the Yungas (Cabrera, 1976).Both species are pluriannual, and develop a hypocotyl, but the stem in V. candida (Vell.) Maréchal, Mascherpa & Stainier is straight while in V. adenantha has haptotropic movements since the begining (Ojeda et al,unpub.).In both species the inflorescences are racemes with 9 or more nodes, in each one of them a short and sphaerical axis bear two flowers and up to seven extrafloral nectaries (Ojeda and Hoc, 2008).V. adenantha. has potential as forage culture in subtropical or tropical areas (Fernández et al., 1988), and perhaps as ornamental (Hoc, unpub. data). Plants of V. candida are desirable as ornamentals (Hoc, unpub. data).Although studies on the floral biology of paleotropical species of Vigna were performed by Hedström & Thulin (1986), Kumar (1976) and Gopinathan & Babu (1987), in the neotropical species the knowledge is scarce (DiStilio et al., 1991; Hoc et al., 1993; Agulló et al., 1994). In order to know the floral biology, reproductive system and reproductive success of V. adenantha and V. candida, this study was undertaken