Ormosia Explained

Ormosia is a genus of legumes (family Fabaceae). 131 living species, mostly trees or large shrubs, are native to the tropical Americas, from southwestern Mexico to Bolivia and southern Brazil, to southern, southeastern, and eastern Asia, and to New Guinea and Queensland. Most are tropical, while some extend into temperate temperate regions of China. A few species are threatened by habitat destruction, while the Hainan ormosia (Ormosia howii) is probably extinct already.

Plants in this genus are commonly known as horse-eye beans or simply ormosias, and in Spanish by the somewhat ambiguous term "chocho". The scientific name Ormosia is a nomen conservandum, overruling Toulichiba which is formally rejected under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants.[1]

The seeds of these plants are poisonous if eaten, but often look pretty, with bright colors and decorative patterns reminiscent of an eye; the common name "horse-eye beans" refers to these seeds. They resemble the seeds of Abrus, snoutbeans (Rhynchosia), and Adenanthera, but are much larger than the former two. In particular those of Ormosia coccinea are often used for jewelry and other decorative purposes, or as good luck charms. The seeds float and are occasionally found as "sea beans".

Otherwise, Ormosia wood is used as timber or firewood. Some species, for example Ormosia nobilis, are also used in folk medicine.[2]

Fossil record

8 dehiscent seed pod fossils of one Ormosia species from the middle Eocene epoch have been examined from Warman clay pit in Weakley County, while 52 fossil leaflets of two Ormosia species have been described from Warman, New Lawrence and Lamkin clay pits in Weakley and Henry Counties, Tennessee, United States.[3]

Species

Species names with uncertain taxonomic status

The status of the following species is unresolved:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: GRIN record for genus Ormosia . USDA . USDA . ARS . Agricultural Research Service . National Genetic Resources Program . 5 Oct 2007 . Germplasm Resources Information Network—(GRIN) [Online Database] . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland . 24 Dec 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090115071455/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?8573 . 15 January 2009 . dead .
  2. Marín-Corba C, Cárdenas-López D, Suárez-Suárez S . 2005 . Utilidad del valor de uso en etnobotánica. Estudio en el departamento de Putumayo (Colombia) . Use Value usefulness in ethnobotany. Case study in Putumayo department (Colombia) . . 27 . 1 . 89–101 .
  3. The Fossil History of Leguminosae from the Eocene of Southeastern North America by Patrick S. Herendeen, Advances in Legume Systematics: Part 4, The Fossil Record, Ed. P.S. Herendeen & Dilcher, 1992, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,

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