Sesbania is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, and the only genus found in tribe Sesbanieae. Riverhemp is a common name for plants in this genus.[2] Notable species include the rattlebox (Sesbania punicea), spiny sesbania (Sesbania bispinosa), and Sesbania sesban, which is used in cooking. Plants of this genus, some of which are aquatic, can be used in alley cropping to increase the soil's nitrogen content. The species of rhizobia responsible for nitrogen fixation in Sesbania rostrata is Azorhizobium caulinodans.

Sesbania
Sesbania drummondii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Clade: Meso-Papilionoideae
Clade: Non-protein amino acid-accumulating clade
Clade: Hologalegina
Clade: Robinioids
Tribe: Sesbanieae
Hutch.
Genus: Sesbania
Adans. (1763), nom. & orth. cons.
Species[1]

60; see text

Synonyms[1]
  • Agati Adans. (1763), nom. rej.
  • Darwinia Raf. (1817), nom. illeg.
  • Daubentonia DC. (1826)
  • Daubentoniopsis Rydb. (1923)
  • Glottidium Desv.(1813)
  • Monoplectra Raf. (1817)
  • Resupinaria Raf. (1838)
  • Sesban Adans. (1763), orth. var.
Sesbania cannabina

Some 60 species are currently accepted, with about 39 still unresolved. The genus is native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, in the Americas from the southern United States to northern Argentina, in sub-Saharan Africa, in southern Asia, and in New Guinea, Australia, and the Pacific.[1] The largest number of species are found in Africa, and the remainder in Australia, Hawaii, and Asia.[3]

Fossil record

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Fossil seed pods from the upper Oligocene resembling Sesbania have been found in the Hungarian locality of Eger Wind-brickyard. The fossil species grew in a swampy and riparian environment.[4]

List of species

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60 species are accepted,[1] organized into three sections:[5]

Section Glottidium (Desvaux) Lavin

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Section Daubentonia (DC.) Bentham

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Section Sesbania Adans.

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Phylogeny

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Modern molecular phylogenetics suggest the following relationships between the species of Sesbania:[5]

Loteae (outgroup)
Sesbania
New World Clade
Pantropical Clade
Sect. Sesbania

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Sesbania Adans. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  2. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Sesbania​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  3. ^ "The distribution of Sesbania species in the PANESA region". fao.org.
  4. ^ Distribution of Legumes in the Tertiary of Hungary by L. Hably, Advances in Legume Systematics: Part 4, The Fossil Record, Ed. P.S. Herendeen & Dilcher, 1992, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, ISBN 0 947643 40 0
  5. ^ a b Farruggia FT, Lavin M, Wojciechowski MF (2018). "Phylogenetic Systematics and Biogeography of the Pantropical Genus Sesbania (Leguminosae)". Systematic Botany. 43 (2): 414–429. doi:10.1600/036364418X697175.
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