Pachyrhizus erosus (L.) Urb. (Fabaceae)

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Espinoza, R., Masís, A., Guadamuz, A., Chavarría, F. and Perez, D.1998. Pachyrhizus erosus (Fabaceae) Species Page, 12 February 1998. Species Home Pages, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr

I. Identification:

Herbaceus liana.

Flower:

The flower in general is purple, but in detail, the calix is light brown, the keel, standard and wings white in the base and purple in the upper part,

La flor en general es color morado claro. En detalle, el caliz es cafe claro, la quilla , estandarte y alas de color blanco en la base y morado en la parte superior, anthers yellow and filament white.

The inflorescence is a terminal raceme. Base of pistil brown.

Flowers and inmature fruit	Flower, lateral
Flower, front
Dissected flower

Fruit:

The inmature legumes are light brown.

Inmature fruits and leaves
Dissected green fruit	Inmature seeds

Leaves:

The leaves are trifoliate. Each leflet varies from ovate to labulate. They are galbrous to tomentose.

Trifoliate leaf
Leaflet upper surface	Leaflet under surface

Bark and wood:

Entire plant:

Entire plant

Similar species:

Its the only species of Pachyrhizus in the ACG (Zamora 1998).

Verification:

II. Geographic distribution:

Internacional:

From Mexico to Costa Rica (Zamora 1998).

In Costa Rica

In the Area de Conservación Guanacaste:

Macro-habitat maps of ACG

III. Natural history:

IV. How to find:

Acknowledgments:

This project was carried out by the Area de Conservación Guanacaste/CR, with help from INBio/CR, ICBG from the Foggarty center, NIH/USA and NSF/USA. We particularly thank Nelson Zamora for the information he provided about this species.

Literature cited:

Zamora, N. 1998. Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad. Pers. Com.