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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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

Hybrids edit

The following hybrids have been described:[11]

  • Chorizema ×lowii Hort. ex Rev.

References edit

  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.

External links edit