Annual or perennial herbs covered with biramous hairs, hyaline or yellowish; pearl bodies restricted to leaf bases and between leaflets
Leaves 1-9(-13)-foliolate or simple; leaflets opposite, entire; stipules adnate to base of petiole, subulate, deltoid, falcate-lanceolate or broadly cordate
Flowers pink, in axillary or terminal, laxly 3-15-flowered racemes; bracts persistent
Calyx with campanulate tube, ± half or more as long as staminal sheath; lobes longer than the tube
Petals: vexillum narrow at base, tapering to the claw, glabrous; keel with lateral pouches; spurs 0
Stamens diadelphous; vexillary stamen free
Ovary usually sessile, more than half the horizontal length of the pistil; style short, thick, widened and laterally compressed at base; stigma oblique, discoid
Pod linear, laterally compressed, straight or curved, patent to erect, held at right angle to pedicel
Seeds 10-30, quadrate
Nomenclature:
Microcharis Benth.
Bentham: 501 (1865)
Schrire: 165 (1992)
Schrire: 161 (1995)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 35, Africa, Madagascar and Arabian Peninsula
Southern Africa: Species 3, widespread
References:
BENTHAM, G. 1865. Leguminosae. In G. Bentham & J.D. Hooker, Genera plantarum 1. Reeve, London
SCHRIRE, B.D. 1992. New combinations and resurrected names in Microcharis and Indigastrum (Fabaceae-Papilionoideae). Bothalia 22
SCHUTTE, A.L. 1995. Five new species of the genus Liparia (Fabaceae) from South Africa. Nordic Journal of Botany 15,2
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
