Envoy at 15:59, 24 November 2007

2007-11-24T15:59:39Z

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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Mescalbean
| image = Sophora secundiflora flower.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = ''Calia secundiflora'' flowers and leaves
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Fabales]]
| familia = [[Fabaceae]]
| subfamilia = [[Faboideae]]
| tribus = [[Sophoreae]]
| genus = '''''Calia'''''
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
See text.
}}

The '''Mescalbean''', '''Mescal Bean''' or '''Frijolito''' (''Calia'') is a genus of three or four species of [[shrub]]s or small [[tree]]s in the subfamily [[Faboideae]] of the pea family [[Fabaceae]]. The genus is native to southwestern [[North America]] from western [[Texas]] to [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]] in the [[United States]], and south through [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], [[Coahuila]] and [[Nuevo León]] in northern [[Mexico]].

Although still commonly treated in the genus ''[[Sophora]]'', recent [[Genetics|genetic]] evidence has shown that the mescalbeans are only distantly related to the other species of ''Sophora''.

== Species ==
*''Calia arizonica'' (S. Watson) [[Genadij Pablovič Yakovlev| Yakovlev]] - '''Arizona Mescalbean''' ([[synonymy|syn.]] ''Sophora arizonica''). Arizona, Chihuahua.
**''Calia arizonica'' subsp. ''formosa'' (Kearney & Peebles) Yakovlev (syn. ''Calia formosa'', ''Sophora arizonica'' subsp. ''formosa'', ''Sophora formosa''). Arizona.
*''Calia gypsophila'' - '''Guadalupe Mescalbean''' (syn. ''Sophora gypsophila''). Southern New Mexico, west Texas, Coahuila; endangered.
*''[[Calia secundiflora]]'' (Ortega) Yakovlev - '''Texas Mescalbean''' (syn. ''Sophora secundiflora''). Texas, New Mexico, Coahuila, Nuevo León.

[[Image:Sophora secundiflora beans.jpg|thumb|left|Seed pods]]
Mescalbeans grow to 1-11 m tall, with a trunk up to 20 cm diameter, often growing in dense thickets reproducing from [[root]] sprouts. The [[leaf|leaves]] are [[evergreen]], leathery, 6-15 cm long, pinnate with 5-11 oval leaflets, 2-5 cm long and 1-3 cm broad. The [[flower]]s, produced in spring, are fragrant, purple, typical pea-flower in shape, borne in erect or spreading [[raceme]]s 4-10 cm long. The [[fruit]] is a hard, woody [[legume]] 2-15 cm long, containing 1-6 oval bright red [[seed]]s 1-1.5 cm long and 1 cm diameter.

All parts of the mescalbeans are very [[poison]]ous, containing the [[alkaloid]] [[cytisine]] (''not'' [[mescaline]], as suggested by the name). The seeds or other parts of the plant have been reported to have been used as a [[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogen]] by some [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] people, but this is uncertain, due to confusion over names. The symptoms of cytisine poisoning are very unpleasant, including [[nausea]] and [[seizure]]s; as little as one seed can be fatal.

Mescalbeans are sometimes mistakenly called "Mountain-laurel", a name that properly refers to the very dissimilar and unrelated genus ''[[Kalmia]]'' (family [[Ericaceae]]).

==References==
*The relationship of Sophora sect. Edwardsia (Fabaceae) to Sophora tomentosa, the type species of the genus Sophora, observed from DNA sequence data and morphological characters. ''Bot. J. Linn. Soc.'' 146: 439-446 (2004). [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2004.00348.x Available online].

[[Category:Faboideae]]
[[Category:Poisonous plants]]

Calia - Revision history

Envoy at 15:59, 24 November 2007