Lonchocarpus

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Fabales

Familia: Fabaceae
Subfamilia: Faboideae
Tribus: Millettieae
Genus: Lonchocarpus
Species:
A

L. acuminatus – L. adamsii – L. aequatorialis – L. alternifoliolatus – L. andrieuxii – L. angusticarpus – L. antioquiensis – L. argyrotrichus – L. atropurpureus
b

L. balsensis – L. barbatus – L. berriozabalensis – L. bicolor – L. blainii – L. brachyanthus – L. bracteolatus – L. brenesii
c

L. canoensis – L. capassa – L. capensis – L. castilloi – L. caudatus – L. chiangii – L. chiricanus – L. cochleatus – L. comitensis – L. congestiflorus – L. constrictus – L. costaricensis – L. crassicalyx – L. crassispermus – L. cristatus – L. cruentus – L. cultratus
e

L. ellipticus – L. emarginatus – L. epigaeus – L. eriocarinalis – L. eriophyllus
f

L. felipei – L. ferrugineus – L. foveolatus – L. fuscopurpureus
g

L. galeottianus – L. glaucifolius – L. grandifoliolatus – L. guatemalensis – L. guianensis – L. gyroides
h

L. haberi – L. hedyosmus – L. heptaphyllus – L. hermannii – L. hidalgensis – L. hintonii – L. hondurensis – L. huetamoensis – L. hughesii – L. hydrophilus –
i

L. imatacensis
L. isthmensis
j

L. jaliscensis
k

L. kerberi
l

L. lanceolatus – L. larensis – L. lasiotropis – L. latimarginatus – L. latisiliquus – L. lilloi – L. linaresii – L. lindsayi – L. lineatus – L. lomentaceus – L. longipedunculatus – L. longipes – L. longistylus
L. luteomaculatus –
m

L. macrocarpus – L. macrophyllus – L. madagascariensis – L. magallanesii – L. major – L. malacotrichus – L. martinezii – L. megacarpus – L. michelianus – L. michoacanicus – L. minimiflorus – L. minor – L. molinae – L. monofoliaris – L. monophyllus – L. monteviridis – L. monticola – L. morenoi – L. multifoliolatus – L. mutans
n

L. nebularis – L. necaxensis – L. neei – L. neurophyllus – L. nitidus
o

L. oaxacensis – L. obovatus – L. oliganthus – L. orizabensis
p

L. palmeri – L. parviflorus – L. patens – L. paucinervius – L. pedunculatus – L. phaseolifolius – L. phlebophyllus – L. pilosus – L. pittieri – L. plicatus – L. pluvialis – L. praecox – L. pubescens – L. punctatus – L. pycnophyllus
r

L. retifer – L. riparius – L. robustus – L. rubiginosus – L. rugosus
s

L. salvadorensis – L. sanctuarii – L. santarosanus – L. savannicola – L. schiedeanus – L. schubertiae – L. scorpioides – L. semideserti – L. seorsus – L. septentrionalis – L. sericeus – L. sericocarpus – L. sericophyllus – L. sinaloensis – L. spectabilis – L. spiciflorus – L. stenophyllus – L. stenurus – L. subglaucescens – L. subsessilifolius – L. sumiderensis – L. sylvicola
t

L. tenorioi – L. trifolius – L. trinitensis – L. tuxtepecensis
v

L. vallicola – L. velizii – L. velutinus – L. verrucosus – L. violaceus – L. vittatus
y

L. yoroensis – L. yucatanensis

Name

Lonchocarpus Kunth, 1824

Type species: Lonchocarpus sericeus (Poir.) Kunth ex DC.

Synonyms

Capassa Klotzsch
Clompanus Aubl.
Cyanobotrys Zucc.
Icthyoctonum Boivin ex Baill.
Neuroscapha Tul.
Terua Standl. & F.J.Herm.
Willardia Rose

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Tropical America, Tropical & S. Africa
Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bahamas, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Burkina, Cameroon, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe
Introduced into:
India, New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Uganda

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Humboldt, A., Bonpland, A. & Kunth, C.S. 1823–1824 ["1823"]. Nova genera et species plantarum, quas in peregrinatione ad plagam aequinoctialem orbis novi collegerunt, descripserunt, partim adumbraverunt Amat. Bonpland et Alex. de Humboldt. Tomus 6 (quarto ed.). 600 pp. Apud Gide filium, Lutetiae Parisiorum [Paris]. BHL Reference page. 6: 383

Additional references

da Silva, M.J., de Queiroz, L.P., de Azevedo Tozzi, A.M.G., Lewis, G.P. & de Sousa, A.P. 2012. Phylogeny and biogeography of Lonchocarpus sensu lato and its allies in the tribe Millettieae (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae). Taxon 61(1): 93–108. JSTOR. Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Lonchocarpus in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2021 Mar 06. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Lonchocarpus. Published online. Accessed: Mar 06 2021.
Tropicos.org 2021. Lonchocarpus. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 06 Mar 2021.
Hassler, M. 2021. Lonchocarpus. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2021. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2021 Mar 06. Reference page.

Vernacular names
čeština: Lonchokarp
English: lancepod
русский: Лонхокарпус
Tiếng Việt: Chi Đậu dáo
中文: 薄莢豆屬

Lonchocarpus is a plant genus in the legume family (Fabaceae). The species are called lancepods due to their fruit resembling an ornate lance tip or a few beads on a string.

Cubé resin is produced from the roots of L. urucu and namely ''L. utilis (cubé). It contains enough of the toxic rotenoids rotenone and deguelin to be used as an insecticide and piscicide. As these are naturally occurring compounds, they were formerly used in organic farming. Since it is highly unselective and kills useful, as well as pest, animals, it is considered harmful to the environment today. Also, chronic exposure to rotenone and deguelin seems to increase the risk of Parkinson's disease even in mammals, for which these compounds are less acutely toxic than for fish and insects.[1] On the other hand, deguelin might be useful in cancer therapy if it can be applied directly into tumors,[2] and Lonchocarpus root is used to a probably insignificant extent by indigenous peoples as an aid in fishing, e.g. by the Nukak who call it nuún.

The bark of L. violaceus (balché tree) is traditionally used by the Yukatek Maya version of the mildly intoxicating mead, balché, which was held in the highest esteem in antiquity and considered sacred to the god of intoxication. It is still drunk today and was, after the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, considered a less harmful alternative to the alcoholic beverages imported by the Europeans. It is not quite clear if roots were also used to produce balché, and to what extent toxic isoflavones are also present in L. violaceus. The potency of balché may be increased by using honey produced from L. violaceus nectar gathered by the Maya's traditional stingless bees.

Some insects have evolved the ability to deal with Lonchocarpus toxins and feed on these plants. They include a possible new taxon in the two-barred flasher (Astraptes fulgerator) cryptic species complex which seems to have acquired this ability only quite recently and is found at least on L. costaricensis and L. oliganthus.[3]
Species
Main article: List of Lonchocarpus species

Selected species include:

Lonchocarpus calcaratus
Lonchocarpus capassa Rolfe
Lonchocarpus chiricanus
Lonchocarpus kanurii
Lonchocarpus laxiflorus
Lonchocarpus minimiflorus
Lonchocarpus molinae
Lonchocarpus phaseolifolius
Lonchocarpus phlebophyllus
Lonchocarpus pluvialis – cuquí
Lonchocarpus retiferus
Lonchocarpus sanctuarii
Lonchocarpus santarosanus – chapelno blanco
Lonchocarpus trifolius
Lonchocarpus urucu – barbasco
Lonchocarpus utilis – cubé, common lancepod
Lonchocarpus violaceus (Jacq.) Kunth
Lonchocarpus yoroensis

Footnotes

Caboni et al. (2004)
Udeani et al. (1997)

Hébert et al. (2004), Brower et al. (2006)

References

Brower, Andrew V.Z. (2006): Problems with DNA barcodes for species delimitation: ‘ten species’ of Astraptes fulgerator reassessed (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Systematics and Biodiversity 4(2): 127–132. doi:10.1017/S147720000500191X PDF fulltext
Caboni, Pierluigi; Sherer, Todd B.; Zhang, Nanjing; Taylor, Georgia; Na, Hye Me; Greenamyre, J. Timothy & Casida, John E. (2004): Rotenone, deguelin, their metabolites, and the rat model of Parkinson's disease. Chemical Research in Toxicology 17(11): 1540-1548. doi:10.1021/tx049867r PMID 15540952 (HTML abstract)
Hébert, Paul D.N.; Penton, Erin H.; Burns, John M.; Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie (2004): Ten species in one: DNA barcoding reveals cryptic species in the semitropical skipper butterfly Astraptes fulgerator. PNAS 101(41): 14812-14817. doi:10.1073/pnas.0406166101 PDF fulltext Supporting Appendices
Udeani, George O.; Gerhäuser, Clarissa; Thomas, Cathy F.; Moon, Richard C.; Kosmeder, Jerrome W.; Kinghorn, A. Douglas; Moriarty, Robert M. & Pezzuto, John M. (1997): Cancer Chemopreventive Activity Mediated by Deguelin, a Naturally Occurring Rotenoid. Cancer Research 57(16): 3424-3428. PMID 9270008 PDF fulltext