Updated Online Resources From the Desert Legume Program

Joseph Charboneau, Matthew Johnson, Michelle McMahon
University of Arizona Desert Legume Program

Since 1988, the Desert Legume Program (DELEP) has worked to preserve legume biodiversity from arid and semi-arid regions of the world through our seed bank and the living accessions in our evaluation fields. We are proud to announce updated resources on our seed accessions and living holdings now available on our new website (https://cals.arizona.edu/desertlegumeprogram).

While our Index Seminum has always provided a list of seed accessions available for request, our new website provides information on the seed bank holdings dynamically. Visitors can view expanded information on the origin of seed accessions and links to herbarium vouchers in the University of Arizona Herbarium. We are building taxon profile pages starting with the taxa represented in our demonstration garden, which has been funded by a grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust and other sources. These profile pages include information on the physical characteristics, habitat, and uses of the taxon and list all available seed accessions and living accessions at DELEP as well. Taxa are also listed by subfamily and clades at various depths, so users can easily find seed accessions by their phylogenetic relationships to a taxon of interest.

The site is built with the University of Arizona’s QuickStart build of Drupal and custom Drupal data structures. We continue to add content and welcome comments, questions, or general inquiries regarding arid land legumes at delep@cals.arizona.edu. We anticipate that the site will provide richer context for researchers interested in accessing our collections, which include over 4,000 seed accessions from 67 countries representing more than 1,400 species. Seed requests can be submitted directly to DELEP by email or through USDA-GRIN (researchers outside of the US should submit their requests through USDA-GRIN to receive a phytosanitary certificate).