Liparia

Taxonomy

Liparia C. Linnaeus Mant. 2: 156. Oct 1771.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.25.04.
Tribe: Podalyrieae.
Subtribe: Podalyriinae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 8 studied; 20 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 1.5–3.5 cm long; 0.5–1 cm wide; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with deciduous calyx, or persistent calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical, or symmetrical; oblong (obliquely ovate); with both sutures parallelly curved, or 1 straight and 1 curved suture; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; compressed; with beak, or without beak; declined, or straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; short tapered at apex; slightly oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; rounded at base, or short tapered 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; active, or passive; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; black, or brown (dark); with surface texture uniform; pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs erect; with 1 type of pubescence; villous; with pubescence golden, or gray; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not 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; brown; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–5; length parallel with fruit length, or transverse to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1–2 mm long; of 1 length only; triangular, or thick; straight. Aril present; fleshy; when fleshy cupshaped (but not a complete circle); entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; reddish brown to brown, or yellow (pale).

Seed: 3.5–5.6 mm long; 1.5–4 mm wide; 1.5–1.8 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; asymmetrical; reniform (oblong), or oblong; 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; glossy, or dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or streaked (mainly), or mottled; with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; dark or reddish brown, or tan; with black overlay, or purple overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through lens to base of seed and terminating, or hilum to lens (at base of seed); not bifurcating; darker than testa; reddish to blackish brown; 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 mm long; with curved outline; circular, or elliptic; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim, or within halo; halo darker than testa. Lens discernible; 0.5–1 mm long; with margins curved; roughly elliptic; not in groove of raphe; adjacent to hilum; 1.2–2 mm from hilum; mounded; similar color as testa, or dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; reddish to blackish brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present (with or without 3 layers: white, cloudy, translucent (thin)); 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; 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; bulbose; lobe tip straight; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon width; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule moderately developed, or well developed; glabrous.

Distribution

South Africa (Cape Province).

Old World; Africa (South: Cape).

Generic Notes

Bos (1967) monographed Liparia, s.s. Our treatment follows the reappraisal of Liparia and Priestleya A.P. de Candolle by Schutte and Van Wyk (1994), who placed Priestleya into synonymy under Liparia. Van Wyk and Schutte (1995) carried out cladistic analyses of tribes Crotalarieae (27), Liparieae, and Podalyrieae (25) and their genera, and presented Priestleya as a good genus distinct from Liparia. Van Wyk (pers. comm. 1997; Schutte and Van Wyk, 1998) informed us that "Priestleya is definitely included in Liparia.".

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.