Biggest seed in dicots

[Robin Leech]

Thanks, Joe.  This is the kind of information I was
requesting.
Robin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Kirkbride" <joe at NT.ARS-GRIN.GOV>
To: <TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: Biggest seed in dicots


A great deal of the information that you want about Mora megistosperma was
just published in The Bean Bag.  Below is all that I could send via TAXACOM
because it is all pictures.  For those that want the reference in its
entirety, including the pictures, reply just to me, and I will e-mail you
The Bean Bag with the reference.

We have one seed of M. megistosperma in the USDA U.S. National Seed
Herbarium.  It is a truly impressive seed, which I frequently show to
visitors as the largest know "bean".  It lloks more like a very large fruit
than a "bean" seed.

Joe K

JOSEPH H. KIRKBRIDE, JR., Research Botanist
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory
Rm. 304, Bldg. 011A, BARC-West
Beltsville, MD 20705-2350 USA
Telephone: 301-504-9447
FAX: 301-504-5810
E-mail: joe at nt.ars-grin.gov
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Bean Bag, 2005, 52: 3-4.

The Drift-Seed of Mora oleifera (Triana) Ducke
H.D.L. (Tom) Corby
In response to an appeal in The Bean Bag for seed of Mora oleifera, a single
fresh seed, said to be of average size, arrived by air from Costa Rica.
The seed had a flaking chartaceous seedcoat.  The hard-fleshed, pale orange
cotyledons were firmly adherent at the edges, concave internally, with the
inner surface warty and prominently veined.  The axis was well-developed.
With a relative bulk-density of <1, it clearly had the buoyancy befitting a
drift-seed.
Allen & Allen (1981)1 describe the seed as the largest dicotyledonous, and
leguminous, seed known, used locally to make a dark red dye.  Gunn et al.
(1976)2 describe the seed as 1-2 seeded, seldom more than 25 cm. long.
I am grateful to Dr Barry Hammel for the seed, to Dr David Smith for
determining the nature of the cotyledons, and to Professor Janet Sprent for
the nitrogen-determinations.
1.      Allen, O.N. and Allen, E.K. 1981.  The Leguminosae:  A Source Book
of Characteristics, Uses, and Nodulation.  Madison:  University of Wisconsin
Press.
2.      Gunn, R.R., Dennis, J.V., and Paradine, P.J. 1976.  World Guide to
Tropical Drift Seeds And Fruits.  New York:  Quadrangle/New York Times Book
Co.

The sizes are incorporated into the figures as:
17 x 14 x 7.5 cm
Whole seed 709 cm3; central cavity 199 cm3
Fresh weight: 645 g; dry: 334g
Nitrogen content (dry matter basis): seedcoat, 1.62%; cotyledons, 0.53%;
axis, 0.93%
Buoyancy: bulk desity, 0.91 g/cm3
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom Discussion List [mailto:TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU]On
> Behalf Of Hidenobu Funakoshi
> Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 1:04 AM
> To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
> Subject: [TAXACOM] Biggest seed in dicots
>
>
> Hi Taxacomers,
>
> I wonder if someone out there let me know what is the
> biggest seed in dicots. Some sources said it must be
> Eusideroxylon zwageri  of Lauraceae, but I want to make
> it sure. Thanks in anticipation.
>
> regards,
> H.Funakoshi
>
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> Graduate School of Science, Shinshu University
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