Relatives
Cicer minutum Boiss. & Hohen. -Tiny chickpea
Taxonomic position.
Family Fabaceae Lindl. Genus Cicer L. (Basic synonyms: Cicer pimpinellifolium Jaub. & Spach subsp. minutum (Boiss. & Hohen.) Ponert).Morphology and biology.
This is a perennial plant, covered by short ferriferous hairs. Stems are not numerous, low growing, 7-15 (20) cm tall, upright or rising, thin. Leaves are short, up to 1.5 cm long. Stipules are very small, linear-lanceolate. Leaflets are about 0.5 cm long, 1-2-or 3-4-paired, cuneiform, with large denticles on their edges. Peduncle and pedicel are rather short, their general length does not exceed the length of the sheet, as compared to the similar species, Cicer incisum (Willd). K. Maly, whose peduncles are at least equal in length to its leaves. Peduncles are one-floral. The calyx is about 0.5 cm long with linear- lanceolate denticles, which are longer than the tube. The corolla is blue or pink, 1-1.5 cm in length. The flag is 1-1.2 cm long, round, with dredging. Wings are 0.7-0.9 cm long and the keel is rostriform and 0.8 cm long. Beans are about 1.2 cm long, oval with short rostellum, and covered by ferriferous hairs. Seeds are about 0.5 cm long, back-ovate, with tubercles and dents.Blossoms in June; fructifies in June-July.
Distribution.
Common distribution includes: Iran. Distribution in the territory of the former USSR: Caucasus and Southern Transcaucasia.Ecology.
This species grows on high mountains and on stony taluses.Use and economic value.
This plant is the wild relative of the cultivated chickpea. It is interesting as a high-mountainous species, impervious to temperature and soil.Reference citations:
Cherepanov S.K. 1995. Plantae Vasculares Rossicae et Civitatum Collimitanearum (in limics USSR olim)[List of Vascular Plants of Russia]. St. Petersburg: Mir I Semia. 990 pp. (In Russian)Galushko, A.I. 1980. Flora of the North Caucasus. V. 2. The Manual. Rostov University Publishers. 352 p. (In Russian)
Grossgeim, A.A. 1952. Flora of the Caucasus. V. 5. Moscow-Leningrad: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 424 p. (In Russian)
Popov M.G. 1929. Bulletin of Applied Botany, 21(1): 187.
Shishkin, B.K. & E.G. Bobrov, eds. 1948. Flora USSR. V. 23. Moscow-Leningrad: Publishing House of Acad. Science. 391 p. (In Russian)