Cytisopsis

Taxonomy

Cytisopsis H.F. Jaubert & É. Spach Ill. Pl. Orient. 1: 154. Feb 1844.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.13.01.
Tribe: Loteae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; ca. 2 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1–2.2 cm long; 0.4–0.5 cm wide; 0.4–0.5 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical; oblong; not inflated; terete; without beak; short tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; ligneous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted, or constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; with all layers dehiscing (to tardily so); splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; passive, or active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate; with hairs appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; with pubescence gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined; somewhat reticulately veined; not tuberculate; wrinkled; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick; surface not veined; 1-layered; without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; ligneous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome, or mottled; tan; with mottling above and below seed chambers; with brown overlay (reddish); smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; subseptate; with septa thin (tissue paper-like), flexible; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 2–6; length transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 2.2–2.8 mm long; 2 mm wide; 2 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular, or angular; asymmetrical; circular, or oblong, or irregular; terete; with surface smooth; without visible 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; clear; monochrome; brown (dark reddish); glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; punctiform; apical at apex of radicle tip; flush; not within corona, halo, or rim. Lens discernible, or not discernible; 0.5 mm long; with margins curved; elliptic; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 0.3 mm from hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; black; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to embryo and 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; tan, or green; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; oblique to length of seed; with a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; 1/2 to nearly length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

Eastern Mediterranean (1 sp.) and perhaps in north Africa (1 sp.).

Old World; Africa and Mediterranean (eastern, Africa (north)).

Generic Notes

Polhill (1981k) noted that the status of the North African species of Cytisopsis, which also has been placed in the segregate genus Lyauteya R.C.J.E. Maire, is not certain and perhaps both species of Cytisopsis are better placed in Anthyllis (13.02). We studied only the Eastern Mediterranean species, C. pseudocytisus.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Loteae

In 1981, Polhill (1981k) accepted much broader generic circumscriptions in tribe Loteae, and only accepted four genera in the tribe: Cytisopsis, Anthyllis (13.02), Hymenocarpus (13.04), and Lotus (13.07). In his most recent classification of Fabaceae (Polhill, 1994a, 1994b), he combined tribes Loteae and Coronilleae and accepted six segregate genera in Loteae, s.s.: Tripodion (13.03), Dorycnopsis (13.05), Dorycnium (13.06), Podolotus J.F. Royle (13.08), Pseudolotus K.H. Rechinger (13.09), and Vermifrux (13.10).