''Desmanthus'' is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the mimosoid clade of the subfamily

Caesalpinioideae Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name '' Caesalpinia''. It is known also as the peacock flower subfamily. The Caesalpinioideae a ...

of the

pea Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

family,

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. The name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

words δεσμός (''desmos''), meaning "bundle", and ἄνθος (''anthos''), meaning "flower". It contains about 24 species of

herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

and

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s that are sometimes described as being suffruticose and have

bipinnate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets ...

leaves. ''Desmanthus'' is closely related to ''

Leucaena ''Leucaena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the family Fabaceae. It contains about 24 species of trees and shrubs, which are commonly known as leadtrees. They are native to the Americas ...

'' and in appearance is similar to '' Neptunia''. Like ''

Mimosa ''Mimosa'' is a genus of about 600 species of herbs and shrubs, in the mimosoid clade of the legume family Fabaceae. Species are native to the Americas, from North Dakota to northern Argentina, and to eastern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, and ...

'' and ''Neptunia'', ''Desmanthus'' species fold their leaves in the evening. They are native to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

, Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Members of the genus are commonly known as bundleflowers. Donkey beans is another common name and originated in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, where ''Desmanthus'' species are highly regarded as

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food ...

for these domestic draught animals.

Description

There are considerable differences in the descriptions of ''Desmanthus'' in the literature (see Bogdan 1977; Skerman 1977; National Academy of Science 1979; Allen & Allen 1981; Reid 1983; Hacker 1990). For example, Reid (1983) says that ''Desmanthus virgatus'' ranges from "leggy" plants in the humid tropics to compact bushes in the semi-arid zones to prostrate in the montane zones; Allen and Allen (1981) state that ''Desmanthus'' grows to 3 metres; Hacker (1990) states that ''D. virgatus'' is an erect shrub 1.3 metres tall. All these views illustrate the great diversity and polymorphism within the genus and between species.

Phytochemistry

The root-bark of '' D. illinoensis'', which accounts for half of the total weight of the root system, is reported to contain anywhere from 0 to 0.34%

DMT Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), also known as ''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (''N'',''N''-DMT), is a serotonergic hallucinogen and investigational drug of the tryptamine family that occurs naturally in many plants and animals, including humans. D ...

and 0.11%

N-Methyltryptamine ''N''-Methyltryptamine (NMT), also known as monomethyltryptamine, is a chemical compound of the tryptamine family and a naturally occurring compound found in the human body and certain plants. It is biosynthesized in humans from tryptamine by ...

Alkaloid Alkaloids are a broad class of natural product, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. Alkaloids are produced by a large varie ...

content is highly variable in this species. Likewise, root bark of '' Desmanthus leptolobus'' has been found to contain N,N-DMT and related tryptamines. While its only reported quantitative analysis was 0.14% (Appleseed), all instances of co-occurrence with ''D. illinoensis'' showed it to be noticeably stronger than ''D. illinoensis'', according to co-

thin layer chromatography Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a chromatography technique that separates components in non-volatile mixtures. It is performed on a TLC plate made up of a non-reactive solid coated with a thin layer of adsorbent material. This is called the sta ...

of the root bark.Ayahuasca: alkaloids, plants & analogs: assembled by Keeper of the Trout
/ref>

Uses

During the 1990s in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, three species of ''Desmanthus'' were released as

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

legumes and many other accessions are being evaluated as pasture species for clay soils. The three old released

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s are: * ''

Desmanthus virgatus ''Desmanthus virgatus'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family that is known by many common names, including wild tantan, prostrate bundleflower, dwarf koa, desmanto, acacia courant, acacia savane, pompon blank,Francis, J. K., Ed'' ...

'' Cultivar "Marc"(Accession number: CPI 78373) which is described as early flowering, decumbent to ascending, growing 30 to 60 cm tall and originates from Argentina. * '' Desmanthus leptophyllus'' Cultivar "Bayamo" (CPI 82285), mid season flowering, ascending type, 95–135 cm tall, from Cuba * '' Desmanthus pubescens'' Cultivar "Uman" (CPI 92803), late flowering, decumbent shrub, taller and wider spreading than Marc, 40–100 cm tall, from Mexico. Of these three, only the cultivar Marc is still commercially available. In 2015 five new cultivars of Desmanthus named JCU 1 to JCU 5 have been granted PBR and are commercially available as a blend named "Progardes", consisting of '' D. bicornutus'', ''D. leptophyllus'' and ''D. virgatus'', these have been developed in Queensland Australia as a pasture legume for semi-arid tropical/subtropical alkaline clay soils. Progardes became available in 2013 in Northern Australia and some 35,000 to 50,000 ha has been already sown into native and buffelgrass pasture. In recent times additional cultivars have seen developed including cv JCU 6,7,8 and 9. These can also be included in the Progardes blend. The breeding of intraspecific and interspecific crosses are well advanced. In terms of animal production Progardes has been to shown to enhance beef production. In its native range in the United States, the

Land Institute The Land Institute is an American nonprofit research, education, and policy organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture, based in Salina, Kansas. Their goal is to develop an agricultural system based on perennial crops that "has the ecolo ...

is selectively breeding the widely distributed Illinois bundleflower (''

Desmanthus illinoensis ''Desmanthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the pea family, Fabaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words δεσμός (''desmos''), meaning "bundle", and ἄνθος (''anthos'') ...

'') to be a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

seed crop for human food, in addition to forage / pasture. It offers many of the advantages in terms of nutrition,

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

and

nitrogen fixation Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular dinitrogen () is converted into ammonia (). It occurs both biologically and abiological nitrogen fixation, abiologically in chemical industry, chemical industries. Biological nitrogen ...

soybeans The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source of f ...

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

, but as a perennial. Perennial crops tend to require less input of chemicals and energy, and less weed control, for comparable or higher yields to annuals in many systems.

Species

References

External links