Macarthuria

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Macarthuria

Macarthuria Hügel ex Endl., Enum. Pl.: 11. 1837 sec. Endress & Bittrich 19931
  • 1. Endress, M. E. & Bittrich, V. 1993: Molluginaceae, 419 – 425. – In: Kubitzki, K., Rohwer, J.G. & Bittrich, V. (ed.), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants 2. – Berlin, Heidelberg & New York: Springer

Content

Notes

About ten species of rush-like shrubs from Australia, especially Southwestern Australia. The poorly known genus Macarthuria appears as sister group of all other core Caryophyllales (Brockington & al. 2011; Christin & al. 2011).A,B,C

Distribution (General)

Ten or more species endemic to Australia, of which five are endemic to south-western Western Australia, the remainder occurring from the Kimberley region eastwards to the Northern Territory and Queensland, and south to northern New South Wales.D

Description

Perennial herbs, subshrubs or shrubs to 1.5(2) m tall, glabrous or rarely hairy. Stems rigid, terete, rarely intricate, flattened or winged. Leaves mostly cauline, rarely also basal, alternate, becoming progressively reduced further up the stem, occasionally all reduced to scales. Inflorescence cymose,
sometimes open and dichotomous, 1-many-flowered, inserted laterally or terminally on the branches, flowers pedicellate. Sepals 5, free, in two whorls. Petals 5, white to cream, free, or absent. Stamens 8, inserted on a staminal ring. Ovary 3-locular, with 1-3 ovules per locule. Style branches 3, stigma at apex of each. Fruit a loculicidal capsule. Seeds ± reniform to almost ellipsoid, dark, seed coat often sculpted, arillate.D

Etymology

After Sir William Macarthur, 1800-1882, horticulturalist and agriculturalist (Baines 1981).D

Bibliography

A. Brockington, S. F., Walker, R. H., Glover, R. H., Soltis, P.S. & Soltis, D.E. 2011: Complex pigment evolution in the Caryophyllales. – New Phytologist 190: 854 – 864. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03687.x|
B. Christin, P.-A., Sage, T. L., Edwards, E. J., Ogburn, R. M., Khoshravesh, R. & Sage, R. F. 2011: Complex evolutionary transitions and the significance of C3–C4 intermediate forms of photosynthesis in Molluginaceae. – Evolution 65: 643 – 660. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01168.x|
C. Hernández-Ledesma, P., Berendsohn, W. G., Borsch, T., von Mering, S., Akhani, H., Arias, S., Castañeda-Noa, I., Eggli, U., Eriksson, R., Flores-Olvera, H., Fuentes-Bazán, S., Kadereit, G., Klak, C., Korotkova, N., Nyffeler, R., Ocampo, G. & Ochoterena, H. 2015: A taxonomic backbone for the global synthesis of species diversity in the angiosperm order Caryophyllales. – Willdenowia 45(3): 281-383. http://doi.org/10.3372/wi.45.45301
D. Lepschi, B. J. 1996: A taxonomic revision of Macarthuria (Molluginaceae) in Western Australia. – Nuytsia 11(1): 37-54