Version 1 was published on CD-ROM in March 2000 by Parkway Publishers, Box 3678, Boone, North Carolina 28607, U.S.A., telephone: 1-800-821-9155, telephone or fax: (828) 265-3993, URL: http://www.parkwaypublishers.com/. Intkey version 5.09, November 1999, was included on the CD-ROM, and the database and images were optimized for use with that Intkey version.
It combined the data and illustrations of our three publications on legume fruits and seeds: Caesalpinioideae (Gunn, 1991), Mimosoideae (Gunn, 1984), and Faboideae (Kirkbride et al., 2004). There were 303 characters and 686 genera in the database with 204 character and 1,377 generic images. Because the Caesalpiniodeae and Mimosoideae were published in 1991 and 1984, their genera and data were significantly updated by Kirkbride. The genera were in phylogenetic order according to Polhill (1994a, 1994b).
The nomenclatural standard adopted was the USDA, ARS Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). GRIN is the USDA database for all of its germplasm accessions, and one module of the database is the scientific names of plants, which is maintained by the personnel of the USDA, ARS, Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory. All accepted genera of seed plants are listed in the database, and that list of legume genera was the one in our database. GRIN and our database were last synchronized in December 1999. For each genus, there were two image files with fruits and seed drawings and/or photographs, embryo and cotyledon drawings, and testa SEMs. A few variable genera had more image files, and a few genera for which we could not find adequate material either had one image file or none.
The 303 characters were distributed amongst the following types: 157 fruit characters; 127 seed characters; 7 distribution characters; 7 classification characters; one note character; and 4 meta data characters. Approximately 67% of the characters had image files. The remaining 99 characters were not amenable to illustration for various reasons. For example, image files were not prepared for color characters because colors vary from monitor to monitor.Version 2.0 was published in April 2003 on the USDA, ARS, Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory web site. It was optimized for use with Intkey version 5.11, February 2001, which can now be obtained free-of-charge by downloading via the Internet from http://biodiversity.uno.edu/www/programs.htm.
It is modified from version 1. In March 2003, GRIN had 685 legume genera. To synchronize our database with GRIN, 11 genera were added, 9 genera were made junior synonyms and their data and images transferred to their senior genera, and the name of one genus was changed for nomenclatural reasons. The genera are arranged in alphabetical order, and there now 205 character image files and 1,379 generic image files.
The number of characters increased to 310 organized in the following manner: 157 fruit characters; 128 seed characters; 7 distribution characters; 7 classification characters; 5 nomenclatural characters; 2 note characters; and 4 meta data characters. Five characters were added for nomenclatural data; one seed character was added for the position of pubescence on the inner face of cotyledons; and the note character was divided into two characters, one for generic notes and the other for tribal notes.
Version 2.1 was not published. It was optimized for use with Lucid Player Plus version 2.2, which can be purchased from the Centre for Biological Information Technology (CBIT), The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia, via the Internet from http://www.lucidcentral.com/. Lucid Player Standard can be downloaded free-of-charge from http://www.lucidcentral.com/. Some of the functions of Lucid Player Plus are disabled in Lucid Player Standard. We recommend that version 2.1 of our database be used with Lucid Player Plus.
It is modified from version 2.0. It has the same number of legume genera as version 2.0, 686 genera. Lucid Player has a limit of 15 character states per character. Version 2.0 has seven characters with 16–29 character states. Six characters were divided, and one character had two character states united. The number of characters decreased to 291 organized in the following manner: 157 fruit characters, 128 seed characters; and six distribution characters.
Authors: J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, A.L. Weitzman, M.J. Dallwitz, K.R. Thiele
Content last updated April 2003
Released April 2024 on idtools.org
