Chordospartium

Taxonomy

Chordospartium T.F. Cheeseman Trans. Proc. New Zealand Inst. 43: 175. 10 Sep 1910.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.17.03.
Tribe: Carmichaelieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; bilocular; 0.4–0.5 cm long; 0.2–0.26 cm wide; 0.13–0.18 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, or right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; multicolored; mottled; brown; with brown overlay; mottling color combination constant; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; pilose (crinkled); 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 present; thin; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; coriaceous. Endocarp present; visible; glossy; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1; length parallel with fruit length. Funiculus 0.5–1 mm long; filiform; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 2.5–3 mm long; 1.8–2 mm wide; 1–1.2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform; compressed; with surface smooth; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; 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; monochrome; red; glabrous; not smooth; with recessed features; pitted with small separate pits; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Raphe visible; from hilum to lens; darker than testa (slightly); flush. Hilum present; visible; without faboid split; punctiform; marginal according to radicle tip; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible; with margins curved; punctiform; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.7 mm from hilum; mounded; same color as testa, or dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; red; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick; 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; differing at apex (1 concealed by overarching radicle and other auriculate and concealing radicle); not concealing radicle; 1 cotyledon scooped out to accommodate plicate radicle and other cotyledon entire; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; brownish red; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; plicate to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip curved; with 360 degree turn; centered between cotyledons; exceeding length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

New Zealand (South Island).

Old World; New Zealand.

Generic Notes

Heenan (1998a, 1998c) carried out cladistic analyses of Carmichaelia (17.05), Chordospartium, Corollospartium (17.04), and Notospartium (17.02) using morphological and anatomical characters, and concluded that this genus should be merged with Carmichaelia.

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.