Chorizema, commonly known as flame peas,[3] is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia.

Chorizema
Chorizema cordatum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Clade: Mirbelioids
Genus: Chorizema
Labill.[1]
Type species
Chorizema ilicifolium
Labill.[2]
Species

See text

Synonyms[1]
Chorizema varium

Description

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Plants in the genus Chorizema are mostly shrubs or subshrubs, sometimes climbers, usually with simple leaves arranged in opposite pairs, the flowers usually arranged in racemes, each flower on a short pedicel. The sepal lobes are more or less equal, the upper pair broader and partly joined, the standard petal more or less round or kidney-shaped, the wings oblong and much longer than the keel. The fruit is an oval pod containing 4 to 32 seeds.[3][4][5]

Taxonomy

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The genus Chorizema was first formally described in 1800 by Jacques Labillardière in his Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse, and the first species he described (the type species) was Chorizema ilicifolium.[6][7] The genus name (Chorizema) means "divided thread", Labillardière having noted that the stamens are separate from each other.[8]

Distribution

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Flame peas are endemic to the south-west of Western Australia, apart from C. parviflorum that occurs in New South Wales and Queensland.[3][9]

Use in horticulture

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This genus of peas is valued in cultivation for their colourful flowers. Most species do not tolerate frost, and in temperate regions require the protection of glass.[10]

Species list

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The following species and subspecies are accepted by the Australian Plant Census as of June 2020:[1]

Hybrids

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The following hybrids have been described:[11]

  • Chorizema ×lowii Hort. ex Rev.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Chorizema". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Chorizema Labill". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Carrick, Margaret G.; Fuhrer, Bruce A. (2009). Wildflowers of Southern Western Australia (3rd ed.). Dural, N.S.W.: Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 58–59. ISBN 9781877058844.
  4. ^ Wiecek, Barbara. "Genus Chorizema". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Chorizema". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  6. ^ "Chorizema". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  7. ^ Jacques, Labillardière (1800). Relation du Voyage a la Recherche de la Perouse. Vol. 1. Paris. p. 21. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  8. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 69. ISBN 9780958034180.
  9. ^ "Chorizema parviflorum". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  10. ^ RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1405332965.
  11. ^ "The Plant List entry for Chorizema". The Plant List. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden. 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
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