The shape of leguminous nodules and the colour of leguminous roots

Abstract

The nodule shape of more than four hundred species of wild legumes indigenous to Rhodesia is found to be related to the tribal classification of the host. Characteristic nodule-shapes of the papilionaceous tribes Galegeae, Genisteae, Hedysareae, and Phaseoleae, and of the subfamilies Mimosoideae and Caesalpinioideae are described and figured. Non-nodulating species were found to have coloured roots much more frequently than nodulating species.