Carmichaelia

Carmichaelia flagelliformis

Carmichaelia is a plant genus in the subfamily of the Fabaceae ( Faboideae ). This genus consists of shrubs that resemble the growth on the European gorse. However, it comes up in a way that only New Zealand before, and their flowers are usually reddish. The genus was named after the Scots Dugald Carmichael.

Description

These are shrubs, small trees or subshrubs, rarely also to woody climbing plants. You can reach depending on plant height from a few centimeters to several meters.

The leaves are reduced in most species and is designed only as a small shed. Instead of the leaves, the stems take on photosynthesis. These bins are designed like round or flattened leaf-like than phylloclades.

The flowers are in simple or branched racemose inflorescences, in some Arte individually. The zygomorphic flowers are fünfzählig. The five sepals are fused bell-shaped. The crown is whitish to pink, purple or violet, rarely also yellow. The style stops after flowering as beak on the sleeve.

Occurrence

The species of the genus are dedicated exclusively to New Zealand at home. A single comes from the Lord Howe Island, which belongs to Australia. Many species are very regional.

There are colonized quite different locations. However, most species occur mainly on poor, often stony soils with little vegetation.

System

Both the boundaries between the individual species as well as the differentiation from closely related genera is very difficult and has been handled very differently. Repeated revisions of the genus by Peter Brian Heenan showed that the genera previously used Chordospartium, Corallospartium, Notospartium and Huttonella must be incorporated into the genus Carmichaelia so that it is within the tribe except Carmichaelia depending considers only the genus Streblorrhiza or the genus Montigena there.

Depending on the view about 20 to 30 species can be distinguished. However, there are a considerable number of synonyms, and therefore Sort lists often have little resemblance to each other. The following list of species is based on the Flora of New Zealand:

• Carmichaelia aligera
• Carmichaelia angustata
• Carmichaelia appressa
• Carmichaelia arborea
• Carmichaelia arenaria
• Carmichaelia astonii
• Carmichaelia compacta
• Carmichaelia corrugata
• Carmichaelia cunninghamii
• Carmichaelia curta
• Carmichaelia egmontiana
• Carmichaelia enysii
• Carmichaelia fieldii
• Carmichaelia flagelliformis
• Carmichaelia floribunda
• Carmichaelia glabrata
• Carmichaelia grandiflora
• Carmichaelia hollowayi
• Carmichaelia hookeri
• Carmichaelia kirkii
• Carmichaelia lacustris
• Carmichaelia monroi
• Carmichaelia nigrans
• Carmichaelia odorata
• Carmichaelia orbiculata
• Carmichaelia ovata
• Carmichaelia petriei
• Carmichaelia prona
• Carmichaelia ramosa
• Carmichaelia rivulata
• Carmichaelia robusta
• Carmichaelia sylvatica
• Carmichaelia solandri
• Carmichaelia suteri
• Carmichaelia uniflora
• Carmichaelia violacea
• Carmichaelia virgata
• Carmichaelia williamsii

Sources and further information