''Pultenaea'' is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to Australia. Plants in this genus are shrubs with simple leaves and orange or yellow flowers similar to others in the family but with the standard petal equal to or slightly longer than the other petals.

Description

Plants in the genus ''Pultenaea'' are erect to low-lying or prostrate shrubs with simple leaves usually arranged alternately, usually with papery

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s. The flowers are usually orange or yellow with red marking and usually arranged in leaf axils, often in a condensed

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the sh ...

near the ends of branchlets. There are bracts that are sometimes replaced by enlarged leaf stipules and the bracteoles are usually attached to the base of the

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

tube. The standard petal is equal in length or only slightly longer than the

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in B ...

and

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...

. All ten

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s are free from each other, the

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the bod ...

is usually sessile and the fruit is a small, egg-shaped

pod Pod or POD may refer to: Biology * Pod (fruit), a type of fruit of a flowering plant * Husk or pod of a legume * Pod of whales or other marine mammals * "-pod", a suffix meaning "foot" used in taxonomy Electronics and computing * Proper ort ...

with the remains of the style attached.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Pultenaea'' was first formally described by botanist James Edward Smith in 1794 in '' A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland''. The first species he described was '' P. stipularis'' from a living specimen raised in Stockwell, England from seed obtained from New South Wales in 1792. Smith named the genus in honour of Richard Pulteney, an English surgeon and botanist, who also was the biographer of

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

Species list

See List of ''Pultenaea'' species

Phylogeny

''Pultenaea'' belongs to the Mirbelioid clade of the

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...

subfamily

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

. ''Pultenaea'' is

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

with respect to several of the other mirbelioid genera. The genus is not considered to be

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

with suggestions of splitting it into six separate subgenera, under a larger genus of ''Pultenaea sensu lato'', which would include 19 out of 25 genera included in the former tribe Mirbelieae.

Speciation

The Mirbelioids have had long isolation in Australia from other Fabaceae families. ''Pultenaea'' Sm. underwent explosive starburst radiation during the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

, due to aridity. Geographic

speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution withi ...

factors include east vs. west endemism due to increased aridity and the development of the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to i ...

; subgenera ''Pultenaea'' and ''Corrickosa'' of eastern Australia split along the Winter–Summer rainfall boundary; subclades within ''Corrickosa'' diverged due to marine incursions between

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and Victoria. Western Australian species include disjunctions between north and south, and Esperance/ Cape Arid. Recent extinctions, possibly due to changed fire regimes and grazing pressure, include ''P. elusa'' and ''P. maidenii''.

Distribution

Species of ''Pultenaea'' occur in all Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory but not the Northern Territory.

Use in horticulture

A number of species are cultivated for their spring flower display. Most of these are fast-growing and adaptable to diverse growing conditions. Propagation is from semi-mature cuttings or seed pre-treated by soaking in hot water. Three

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s are registered with the

Australian Cultivar Registration Authority The Australian Cultivar Registration Authority (ACRA) is the International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) for Australian plant genera, excluding those genera or groups for which other ICRAs have been appointed. It is a committee of repr ...

: *''Pultenaea pedunculata'' 'Pyalong Gold' *''Pultenaea pedunculata'' 'Pyalong Pink' *''Pultenaea villosa'' 'Wallum Gold'—a prostrate form

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7259726 Fabales of Australia Mirbelioids Fabaceae genera