Corallospartium

Taxonomy

Corallospartium J.B. Armstrong Trans. Proc. New Zealand Inst. 13: 333. Apr 1881.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.17.04.
Tribe: Carmichaelieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 0.5–0.6 cm long; 0.25–0.3 cm wide; 0.2–0.22 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; compressed; without beak; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally invisible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; nonstipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down (assumed); passive. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; gray; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; velutinous; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; transversely veined relative to fruit length; not tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp absent, or present (if present, very thin); without reniform canals. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1(–2); length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus less than 1 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 1.9–2.1 mm long; 1.4–1.6 mm wide; 1.4–1.6 mm thick; overgrown, 1 seed filling entire fruit cavity; not angular; symmetrical; circular; terete; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes (barely); without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Cuticle not exfoliating; not inflated; not wrinkled. Testa present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; mottled and streaked; with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; brown, or green; with green overlay, or black overlay (bluish); glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; punctiform; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed. Lens discernible; with margins curved; punctiform; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.5 mm from hilum; flush; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; reddish tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique; perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip curved; with 180 degree turn; not centered between cotyledons (radicle outside 1 cotyledon and inside other, therefore junctions for each cotyledon different); exceeding length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

New Zealand (South Island).

Old World; New Zealand.

Generic Notes

297 2Cheeseman (1906) noted that Corallospartium "is technically separated from Carmichaelia by the 2-valved pod without a persistent replum.".

Tribal Notes

Tribe Carmichaelieae

Hutchinson (1964) established tribe Carmichaelieae, and Polhill (1981i, 1994a, 1994b) accepted it. Heenan (1995, 1998c), utilizing unpublished nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS data, concluded that "Carmichaelia (17.05) is nested within [the] 'Astragalean clade' of Galegeae" and is the sister group of Clianthus (16.01). He therefore supported the proposal of Sanderson and Wojciehowski (1996) that Carmichaelieae should not be recognized at tribal level, but rather included in Galegeae (16). He (Heenan, 1998c) also carried out cladistic analyses of Carmichaelia (17.05), Chordospartium (17.03), Corollospartium (17.04), and Notospartium (17.02) using morphological and anatomical characters. He (Heenan, 1998a, 1998c) concluded that "Carmichaelia is paraphyletic with Chordospartium, Corollospartium, and Notospartium excluded," and reunited them with Carmichaelia.