Kingdom Plantae Scientific name Pongamia Rank Genus | Family Fabaceae Higher classification Legumes Order Fabales | |
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Similar Pongame oiltree, Millettia, Legumes, Derris, Psoralea pinnata | ||
Indian biodiesel tree karanj pongamia pinnata
Pongamia is a genus of legume in the Fabaceae family. Recently it has been proposed that the genus Pongamia be rejected in favor of the genus Millettia, and many species have been reclassified. Due to recent interest in biofuels, Pongamia is often the generic name given for Millettia pinnata, a tree being explored for producing biodiesel.
Contents
- Indian biodiesel tree karanj pongamia pinnata
- Pongamia pinnata project
- Species
- Species formerly in the genus
- Description
- Etymology
- References
Pongamia pinnata project
Species
Species include:
Species formerly in the genus
Description
In 1834, Robert Wight and George Arnott Walker-Arnott, both Scottish botanists, published Prodromus Florae Peninsulae Indiae Orientalis where they describe Pongamia as:
Calyx cup-shaped somewhat truncated and 5-toothed. Corolla papilionaceous glabrous. Stamens at first diadelphous at the base and apex and monadelphons about the middle, afterwards usually entirely diadelphous. Legume more or less compressed, more or less oval, with a short recurved point, 1-celled (neither contracted nor with partitions between the seeds), 1-2 seeded: valves concave on the inside, not separating naturally. Trees or twining shrubs. Leaves unequally pinnated: leaflets opposite.
Etymology
Robert Sweet states that the genus Pongamia comes from the Malabar region in India and is derived from the local word Pongam (most likely from the Malayalam language). Pongamia had often been misattributed to Vent. (1803), but it was preceded by "Pongam Adans. (1763)", "Galedupa Lam. (1788)", and "Pungamia Lam. (1796)" and in accordance with the 1994 Tokyo Code of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the correct citation was established as "Pongamia Adans. (1763)". In 1981 a proposal to conserve the genus Millettia and reject the genus Pongamia was proposed in the journal Taxon and was ratified in 1988.
