Notospartium

Taxonomy

Notospartium J.D. Hooker Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 9: 176. Jun 1857.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.17.02.
Tribe: Carmichaelieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 3 studied; 3 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legume; unilocular; 2.5–2.8 cm long; 0.5–0.6 cm wide; 0.17–0.3 cm thick; 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, or curved (slightly); not plicate; not twisted; asymmetrical; linear (nearly); with both sutures parallelly curved to 1 straight and 1 curved suture; not inflated; compressed; without beak; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; coriaceous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; indehiscent. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull; monochrome; tan; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; 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; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; cobwebby; 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) 3–5; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 1 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; straight. Aril absent.

Seed: 2.5–3.5 mm long; 2–2.8 mm wide; 1.2–1.3 mm thick; not overgrown; angular, or not angular; asymmetrical; mitaform; compressed; 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, or mottled and streaked; with frequent mottles; with frequent streaks; brownish red; with black overlay; glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum to lens; not bifurcating; darker than testa; raised. Hilum present; visible; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; 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; 1 mm from hilum; mounded; similar color as testa; darker than testa; brownish 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; similar at apex; not concealing radicle; entire over radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis deflexed; oblique to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; linear; lobe tip straight; with 360 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

Heenan (1998a, 1998c) carried out cladistic analyses of Carmichaelia (17.05), Chordospartium (17.03), Corollospartium (17.04), and Notospartium 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.