Polhillia involucrata (Thunb.) B.-E.van Wyk & A.L.Schutte.

du Preez, B., Dreyer, L. L., Stirton, C. H. & Muasya, A. M., 2021, A monograph of the genus Polhillia (Genisteae: Fabaceae), South African Journal of Botany 138, pp. 156-183 : 165

1. Polhillia involucrata (Thunb.) B.-E.van Wyk & A.L.Schutte.

4.5.3. Etymology

The subgeneric epithet Roseopolhillia was chosen to highlight the distinct and diagnostic rose pink coloured flowers unique to Polhillia species.

4.5.4. Diagnostic characters

The single species in Polhillia subgen. Roseopolhillia is distinguished from the 10 species in Polhillia subgen. Polhillia by having pink or rarely white flowers (versus flowers yellow); fruit dehiscent (versus fruit indehiscent); leaves mostly glabrous and stipules villous only on adaxial surface and glabrous on abaxial surface (versus leaves and stipules entirely sericeous-canescent or villous).

4.5.5. Distribution

This subgenus (species) is distributed through high altitude inland Renosterveld of the Roggeveld Escarpment and Touwsriver areas ( Fig. 7 ). All known populations occur at elevations between 1000 — 1420 m. a.s.l. This subgenus is for the most part endemic to the Extra Cape Subregion (ECR) of the GCFR sensu Snijman (2013), but just reaches into the CCR sensu Manning and Goldblatt (2012) south of Touwsriver.

Figures

Fig. 7. Map of the distribution of subgen.Polhillia (circles) and subgen.Roseopolhillia (triangles).