Cyclopia

Taxonomy

Cyclopia É.P. Ventenat Dec. Gen. 8. 1808.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.25.05.
Tribe: Podalyrieae.
Subtribe: Podalyriinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 6 studied; 23 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 2–3.5 cm long; 0.7–1.5 cm wide; 0.3–0.4 cm thick (estimated); 2–9 times longer than wide; 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; oblong; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; 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 to oblique 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; substipitate; with all layers dehiscing; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; assumed apical and down; passive. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; brownish black, or brown (reddish); with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; faintly veined; reticulately veined; 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; dull; opaque; monochrome; reddish brown; cobwebby (around funicular area), or smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; coriaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings. Seed(s) 2–11; length parallel with fruit length, or transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.5–1 mm long; of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril present; fleshy; when fleshy annular; entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; tan.

Seed: 3.5–4 mm long; 2–2.5 mm wide; 1.5–1.7 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; nearly oblong; compressed; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes, or with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes (barely); without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; with 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; greenish brown, or tan; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through lens to base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; lighter than testa; flush. Hilum present; partially concealed; concealed by aril; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 1–1.2 mm long; with curved outline; circular, or elliptic; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible, or not discernible; with margins curved; circular; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; mounded, or flush; similar color as testa, or dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; reddish brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thick; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to embryo. 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; green; 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; bulbose; lobe tip curved; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

South Africa (Cape).

Old World; Africa (Cape).

Generic Notes

Kies (1951) monographed Cyclopia and noted the use of most species as a type of tea and that "lately 'bush-tea' has become a marketable commodity."

Tribal Notes

Tribe Podalyrieae

Van Wyk and Schutte (1995a) considered Liparieae and Podalyrieae to each be monophyletic and Sophoreae (2) to be their sister group. Schutte and Van Wyk (1998a, 1998b), using Crotalarieae (27) as outgroup, found that the genera of Liparieae and Podalyrieae coalesced into two closely related clades with Liparia (25.04) in the Podalyria (25.06) clade. This supported earlier suggestions (Polhill, 1976, 1981n, 1981o; Van Wyk and Schutte, 1995a) that Liparieae and Podalyrieae should be merged. Schutte and Van Wyk (1998a, 1998b) merged the two tribes as Podalyrieae, recognized the two clades as subtribes, Xiphothecinae and Podalyriinae, and erected a monotypic tribe for Hypocalytus (3.26.01), Hypocalypteae (26). The generic enumeration and number of species in each genus follows Schutte and Van Wyk (1998a). Van der Bank et al. (2002) carried out further cladistic analyses using DNA, morphological, and chemical data and confirmed the findings of Van Wyk and Schutte.