Investigations of pod characters in the Vivieae

A study of the fruits of modern members of the Vicieae (vetch tribe) has been undertaken to seek morphological, micromorphological and anatomical criteria which may assist in the identification of the archaeological remains of pods and in particular ones that may be useful for the diagnosis of their wild or domesticated status. The study included wild and domesticated Pisum (peas), Lens (lentils) and Vicia (common vetch) and some of their wild relatives found in the Old World. The results show that the micromorphological features of the pod surface tend to be highly variable, and do not distinguish the taxa. Most importantly, the pods of less-developed domesticated taxa show no reduction in the number of fibrous layers in the pod wall compared with those of their closest wild relatives, and no morphological or anatomical evidence has been found to indicate the dehiscent or indehiscent status of a pod. This appears to challenge some of our accepted wisdom on the mechanics of legume dehiscence. Received August 8, 2001 / Accepted January 15, 2002