Spartidium

Taxonomy

Spartidium A.N. Pomel Nouv. Matér. Fl. Atl. 173. 1874.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.27.04.
Tribe: Crotalarieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 1 studied; 1 in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legumelegume:
usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal sutures
; unilocular; 3–4.3 cm long; 0.8–1 cm wide; 0.08–0.17 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath, or persistent 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, or twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; oblong; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures nearly straight; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; flattened; without beak; rounded at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers torulose; margin not constricted; margin without sulcus; margin plain; wing(s) absent; substipitate; assumed indehiscent. Replum invisible, or visible (valve could irregularly separate from sutures). Epicarp semiglossy; monochrome; reddish brown; with surface texture uniform; glabrous; eglandular; without spines; not smooth; with elevated features; 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; chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque; monochrome; tan; smooth and scurfy (smooth around seeds and scurfy between seeds); without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; 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 4 mm long; of 1 length only; filiform; hooked. Aril absent.

Seed: 3.5–4 mm long; 2–2.5 mm wide; 1.5–1.8 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular, or angular (somewhat); asymmetrical; oblong, or reniform; terete; with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; 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; reddish brown, or tan (to reddish); glabrous; smooth; coriaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe not visible. Hilum present; visible, or 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; between cotyledon and radicle lobe; recessed; within rim; rim color of testa. Lens discernible; 1.4–1.8 mm long; with margins straight, or curved; oblong; oblong; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; mounded; dissimilar color from testa; darker than testa; brown; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present; thin; 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; split over radicle; with lobes; without margins recessed; reddish 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; deflexed and parallel to cotyledon length; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary; glabrous.

Distribution

North Africa (Libya to Algeria, and probably Morocco).

Old World; Mediterranean and Africa (Libya to Algeria and probably Morocco).

Generic Notes

Polhill (1981q) noted this genus is "virtually indistinguishable from Lebeckia" (27.10). However, alkaloid data support keeping Spartidium separate from Lebeckia (Van Wyk et al., 1989).

Tribal Notes

Tribe Crotalarieae

Polhill (1981q) broadly defined tribe Crotalarieae with two generic groups. The first group, without a two-lipped calyx, formed a tight cluster around Lebeckia (3.27.10) in southern Africa. The second group, with a two-lipped calyx, had more scattered distributions and uncertain affinities. Van Wyk (1991) followed Polhill (1981q), and transferred Argyrolobium (3.30.03) from Genisteae (3.30) to the second group. Crotalarieae and related tribes are rich in alkaloids which have been extensively studied in the last decade (Hussain et al. 1988; Van Wyk and Verdoorn, 1989a, 1989b, 1989c, 1990, 1991a, 1991b; Van Wyk et al., 1989, 1993; Verdoorn and Van Wyk, 1990, 1991). Polhill (1994a, 1994b) and Van Wyk and Schutte (1995a), using chemical and morphological data, restricted Crotalarieae to the genera without a two-lipped calyx, and transferred those with a two-lipped calyx to Genisteae, Anarthrophyllum (3.30.06), Argyrolobium (3.30.03), Dichilus (3.30.02), Melolobium (3.30.01), and Sellocharis (3.30.07), except Lebeckia. They also more or less inverted the generic order within the first group according to Van Wyk and Schutte's cladistic analysis for the genera of Crotalarieae, in the narrow sense.