Pueraria is a genus of 15–20[ The best known member is kudzu, also called Japanese arrowroot.]
Plants in the genus are , shrubs, or climbing herbs, usually with large tuberous roots. Typical habitats include seasonally-dry tropical and subtropical forest, rain forest, forest margins, and scrub vegetation, often on limestone outcrops and in rocky areas.[
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The genus, as traditionally circumscribed, is polyphyletic, with different species being more related to other species in the tribe Phaseoleae.[
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Species
The genus Pueraria is highly polyphyletic; the below list is divided by clade following the result of A.N.Egan & B.Pan (2016).[ Earlier version, 2013 MSc thesis.] In 2015, the authors validly published their proposal in Phytotaxa.[
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Pueraria sensu stricto
Pueraria sensu stricto includes the vast majority of species in the genus. They fall into a single clade sister to or containing Nogra.[
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P. alopecuroides Craib
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P. calycina Franch.
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P. candollei Benth.
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Pueraria edulis Pamp.
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P. imbricata Maesen
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Pueraria lacei Craib
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P. mirifica Airy Shaw & Suvat. (= P. candollei var. mirifica in Egan)
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Pueraria montana (Lour.) Merr.
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Pueraria montana var. chinensis (Ohwi) Sanjappa & Pradeep (= P. chinensis, although ILDS and the plant list instead consider P. thomsonii the synonym)
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Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.) Sanjappa & Pradeep (= P. lobata)
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Pueraria montana var. thomsonii (Benth.) Wiersema ex D.B. Ward (= P. thomsonii, missing in ILDS)
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P. pulcherrima (Koord.) Koord.-Schum.
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P. sikkimensis Prain
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P. tuberosa (Roxb.ex Willd.) DC. – type species
Provisionally retained
The following are not included in the 2016 study due to insufficient material for sequencing. They are accepted by POWO.[
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Pueraria bella Prain: conflicting proposals assigning either to the main clade or to Neonotonia (morphology).
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P. bouffordii H. Ohashi: presumably in the main clade (morphology).
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P. grandiflora Bo Pan & Bing Liu: presumably in the main clade (morphology).
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Pueraria xyzhuii H. Ohashi & Iokawa: presumably in the main clade (morphology).
The following are not included in Egan et al. 2016 for other reasons, but are accepted by Kew POWO:[
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P. garhwalensis L.R.Dangwal & D.S.Rawat: excluded per van der Maesen (2002)
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P. neocaledonica Harms: not mentioned
Former members
The rest of the genus fall into four clades, sorted by distance from the main clade:[
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Neustanthus Benth. – sister to Sinodolichos
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Teyleria
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Toxicopueraria A.N.Egan & B.Pan – sister to Cologania
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P. peduncularis Grah.
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P. yunnanensis Franchet.→ T. yunnanensis
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Haymondia A.N.Egan & B.Pan – notably lies out of Glycininae near Kennediinae; known for a long time to be misplaced
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P. wallichii DC. → H. wallichii
The following names are not accepted even before Egan 2016 but have seen valid publication:
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P. omeiensis Wang et Tang – P. montana:
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P. stracheyi Baker → Apios carnea (Wall.) Benth. ex Baker.
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P. maclurei (F. P. Metcalf) F. J. Herm. → Sinodolichos lagopus – still accepted by WFO
