Biggest seed in dicots

[William at]

Hi Robin:

How's your Spanish?
There is some photographs, a map and other info you can check at this
URL querying INBio's Atta database:

http://atta.inbio.ac.cr/scripts/pbcgi60.exe/TUTORIAL/uo_pbdemo/f_getinfo
?as_taxonname=Mora+oleifera&as_cspecies=TRUE&as_ctaxonDynMap=TRUE&as_cco
mmonname=TRUE&as_ctaxonindicator=TRUE&as_taxonly=TRUE&as_imagecategory=1
&as_ctaxonSlide=TRUE

In this particular case, you can also click on Mora oleifera's name to
get a species page (but, as the bibliography states, a must-see
reference is Dr. Janzen's book).

Hope this helps,

Best regards,

William Ulate
Biodiversity Informatics Unit
http://www.inbio.ac.cr
INBio

-----Original Message-----
From: Robin Leech [mailto:releech at TELUSPLANET.NET]
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 8:40 AM
To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
Subject: [Posible Spam] Re: [TAXACOM] Biggest seed in dicots

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
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> NOTE THAT MY POSTAL AND EMAIL ADDRESS HAS CHANGED.
>
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>
> Hidenobu Funakoshi, Ph.D
> Graduate School of Science, Shinshu University
> E-mail: alpinist at blue.plala.or.jp
> MAIL TO :Maison Azalea A-101, 271-13 Okada-Matsuoka,
>                Matsumoto 390-0312 Japan Cell phone : +81-90-4956-3962
>