The Phanerozoic has witnessed major changes, with Africa being an integral part of supercontinent... more The Phanerozoic has witnessed major changes, with Africa being an integral part of supercontinental landmass agglomeration forming Gondwana, its amalgamation with smaller landmasses to form Pangaea, and later disintegrating to form the existing continents. At the same time climates, atmosphere, oceanic circulation and tectonic plates shifted. During this upheaval, life was evolving and organisms were adapting and with higher diversity came more ecological interactions, creating more habitats and thus influencing more biological radiation. Plants became more complex, developing from unicellular to multicellular organisms.Moving from water onto land, plants had to cope with desiccation, and features evolved enabling them to do this. Patterns of Phanerozoic plant evolution are strongly driven by major changes in the physical environment, most notably continental drift, climate change and bolide impacts, precipitating massive volcanism and other effects leading to mass global extinctions. The products of this evolution were early land plants during Silurian and Devonian times. Subjected to extinction events and environmental changes, these early plants gave rise to the pteridophytes reaching their diversity peak during the Carboniferous and Permian. After the demise of the pteridophytes, the gymnosperms dominated during the Triassic and Jurassic, followed by the emergence of the angiosperms in the Cretaceous. This melange of factors has produced the present plant diversity on earth, which we will examine in context of the African flora. Plant diversification in Gondwana and Laurasia will be covered focussing on Africa, while factors affecting the vegetation and species composition of the present flora will be discussed.
The Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea (CVPRG) is a specimen-based, exper... more The Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea (CVPRG) is a specimen-based, expert-validated knowledge product, which provides a concise synthesis and overview of current knowledge on 3901 vascular plant species documented from Guinea (Conakry), West Africa, including their accepted names and synonyms, as well as their distribution and status within Guinea (indigenous or introduced, endemic or not). The CVPRG is generated automatically from the Guinea Collections Database and the Guinea Names Backbone Database, both developed and maintained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with the staff of the National Herbarium of Guinea. A total of 3505 indigenous vascular plant species are reported of which 3328 are flowering plants (angiosperms); this represents a 26% increase in known indigenous angiosperms since the last floristic overview. Intended as a reference for scientists documenting the diversity and distribution of the Guinea flora, the CVPRG will a...
The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP) is a global consensus view of all known vascular pl... more The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP) is a global consensus view of all known vascular plant species (flowering plants, conifers, ferns, clubmosses and firmosses). The Fabaceae subset contains names that have been peer reviewed by external experts from the Legume Phylogeny Working Group's (LPWG) and internal experts, as well as names that are in the process of being edited and reviewed. WCVP aims to represent a global consensus view of current plant taxonomy by reflecting the latest published taxonomies while incorporating the opinions of taxonomists based around the world. WCVP is built on the nomenclatural data provided by the International Plant Names Index (IPNI), which is the product of a collaboration between The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Harvard University Herbaria, and the Australian National Herbarium, combined with the taxonomic data provided by an international collaborative programme with a large number of contributors from around the world. Our thanks ...
Colubrina nicholsonii Van Wyk & Schrire, a scandent shrub or lax tree endemic to the sandstone re... more Colubrina nicholsonii Van Wyk & Schrire, a scandent shrub or lax tree endemic to the sandstone region of southern Natai/Pondoland is described. The species occurs in riverine forest and is presently known from three isolated populations in Pondoland. It is unique in being the only known species of Colubrina L.C. Rich. ex Brongn. with apetalous flowers. Other diagnostic characters include a scandent habit, spinescent branchlets, eglandular leaves with the lamina entire and fruits with prominent humps on the dorsa of the coccids. lnfragenerically it is an isolated taxon probably allied to species of Colubrina subg. Co/ubrina. C. nicholsonii is the only known member of the genus confined to the African continent. It also constitutes a new generic record for The flora of southern Africa.
A synopsis of the southern African species of Tephrosia Pers. subgenus Barbistyla Brummitt is giv... more A synopsis of the southern African species of Tephrosia Pers. subgenus Barbistyla Brummitt is given. Twenty-one species are recognized. A new species, T. brummittii B. D. Schrire, is described and six new combinations are presented. The key is partly descriptive to provide diagnoses of the taxa and includes information on distributions. Vouchers are noted from at least three different herbaria to aid identification. Detailed notes are provided on atypical collections and taxa that require further investigation. Typification has been done as far as necessary to ensure that the names used are correct.
As a result of cladistic studies in the tribe Indigofereae in Africa and Madagascar (Schrire 1991... more As a result of cladistic studies in the tribe Indigofereae in Africa and Madagascar (Schrire 1991) evidence was accumulated to justify resurrecting the genera Microcharis Benth. and Indigastrum Jaub. Spach, which were previously considered part of Indigofera L. All described species in each genus are listed alphabetically. Forty-seven new combinations, six changes ain rank and four resurrected names are published.
The tribe Desmodieae has a pantropical distribution and is one of the most advanced tribes in the... more The tribe Desmodieae has a pantropical distribution and is one of the most advanced tribes in the subfamily Papilionoideae. Its greatest centres of development are in tropical Asia and America. Africa is relatively poorly endowed and only four genera comprising 16 species occur in the flora of southern Africa. Many of these species are widespread in the Old World tropics and the few African endemics appear to be closely related to them. A synopsis of the genera Desmodium, Pseudarthria, Alysicarpus and Lespedeza is given for southern Africa.
Indigofera confusa is an illegitimate name and a case is made for its replacement by I. pretorian... more Indigofera confusa is an illegitimate name and a case is made for its replacement by I. pretoriana Harms. Confusion over the status of both names is clarified.
The Leguminosae (or Fabaceae) currently comprises 751 genera. In most of the world's herbaria the... more The Leguminosae (or Fabaceae) currently comprises 751 genera. In most of the world's herbaria the genera are arranged by old, non-phylogenetic, classification systems which, while offering insights into morphological similarity, make no explicit statement as to evolutionary relationships. While classifications based on morphology are useful tools for plant identification, they do not offer the predictive value that phylogenetically based linear sequences provide. The legume collection of c.750,000 specimens in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was moved to a new building between 2010 and 2011, which presented the opportunity to reorganise the collection by a linear sequence based on a number of relatively comprehensive published legume phylogenies. The numbered linear sequence adopted at Kew has been updated and emended to include generic changes that have been published up to March 2013. The linear sequence, together with an alphabetical list of genera, is presented here to serve as a management tool for future taxon sampling and herbarium curation. The process used to develop the linear sequence and to rearrange the legume collection at Kew is discussed together with plans for future dissemination of changes to the sequence as new phylogenies are published and incorporated.
The Phanerozoic has witnessed major changes, with Africa being an integral part of supercontinent... more The Phanerozoic has witnessed major changes, with Africa being an integral part of supercontinental landmass agglomeration forming Gondwana, its amalgamation with smaller landmasses to form Pangaea, and later disintegrating to form the existing continents. At the same time climates, atmosphere, oceanic circulation and tectonic plates shifted. During this upheaval, life was evolving and organisms were adapting and with higher diversity came more ecological interactions, creating more habitats and thus influencing more biological radiation. Plants became more complex, developing from unicellular to multicellular organisms.Moving from water onto land, plants had to cope with desiccation, and features evolved enabling them to do this. Patterns of Phanerozoic plant evolution are strongly driven by major changes in the physical environment, most notably continental drift, climate change and bolide impacts, precipitating massive volcanism and other effects leading to mass global extinctions. The products of this evolution were early land plants during Silurian and Devonian times. Subjected to extinction events and environmental changes, these early plants gave rise to the pteridophytes reaching their diversity peak during the Carboniferous and Permian. After the demise of the pteridophytes, the gymnosperms dominated during the Triassic and Jurassic, followed by the emergence of the angiosperms in the Cretaceous. This melange of factors has produced the present plant diversity on earth, which we will examine in context of the African flora. Plant diversification in Gondwana and Laurasia will be covered focussing on Africa, while factors affecting the vegetation and species composition of the present flora will be discussed.
The Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea (CVPRG) is a specimen-based, exper... more The Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea (CVPRG) is a specimen-based, expert-validated knowledge product, which provides a concise synthesis and overview of current knowledge on 3901 vascular plant species documented from Guinea (Conakry), West Africa, including their accepted names and synonyms, as well as their distribution and status within Guinea (indigenous or introduced, endemic or not). The CVPRG is generated automatically from the Guinea Collections Database and the Guinea Names Backbone Database, both developed and maintained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with the staff of the National Herbarium of Guinea. A total of 3505 indigenous vascular plant species are reported of which 3328 are flowering plants (angiosperms); this represents a 26% increase in known indigenous angiosperms since the last floristic overview. Intended as a reference for scientists documenting the diversity and distribution of the Guinea flora, the CVPRG will a...
The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP) is a global consensus view of all known vascular pl... more The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP) is a global consensus view of all known vascular plant species (flowering plants, conifers, ferns, clubmosses and firmosses). The Fabaceae subset contains names that have been peer reviewed by external experts from the Legume Phylogeny Working Group's (LPWG) and internal experts, as well as names that are in the process of being edited and reviewed. WCVP aims to represent a global consensus view of current plant taxonomy by reflecting the latest published taxonomies while incorporating the opinions of taxonomists based around the world. WCVP is built on the nomenclatural data provided by the International Plant Names Index (IPNI), which is the product of a collaboration between The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Harvard University Herbaria, and the Australian National Herbarium, combined with the taxonomic data provided by an international collaborative programme with a large number of contributors from around the world. Our thanks ...
Colubrina nicholsonii Van Wyk & Schrire, a scandent shrub or lax tree endemic to the sandstone re... more Colubrina nicholsonii Van Wyk & Schrire, a scandent shrub or lax tree endemic to the sandstone region of southern Natai/Pondoland is described. The species occurs in riverine forest and is presently known from three isolated populations in Pondoland. It is unique in being the only known species of Colubrina L.C. Rich. ex Brongn. with apetalous flowers. Other diagnostic characters include a scandent habit, spinescent branchlets, eglandular leaves with the lamina entire and fruits with prominent humps on the dorsa of the coccids. lnfragenerically it is an isolated taxon probably allied to species of Colubrina subg. Co/ubrina. C. nicholsonii is the only known member of the genus confined to the African continent. It also constitutes a new generic record for The flora of southern Africa.
A synopsis of the southern African species of Tephrosia Pers. subgenus Barbistyla Brummitt is giv... more A synopsis of the southern African species of Tephrosia Pers. subgenus Barbistyla Brummitt is given. Twenty-one species are recognized. A new species, T. brummittii B. D. Schrire, is described and six new combinations are presented. The key is partly descriptive to provide diagnoses of the taxa and includes information on distributions. Vouchers are noted from at least three different herbaria to aid identification. Detailed notes are provided on atypical collections and taxa that require further investigation. Typification has been done as far as necessary to ensure that the names used are correct.
As a result of cladistic studies in the tribe Indigofereae in Africa and Madagascar (Schrire 1991... more As a result of cladistic studies in the tribe Indigofereae in Africa and Madagascar (Schrire 1991) evidence was accumulated to justify resurrecting the genera Microcharis Benth. and Indigastrum Jaub. Spach, which were previously considered part of Indigofera L. All described species in each genus are listed alphabetically. Forty-seven new combinations, six changes ain rank and four resurrected names are published.
The tribe Desmodieae has a pantropical distribution and is one of the most advanced tribes in the... more The tribe Desmodieae has a pantropical distribution and is one of the most advanced tribes in the subfamily Papilionoideae. Its greatest centres of development are in tropical Asia and America. Africa is relatively poorly endowed and only four genera comprising 16 species occur in the flora of southern Africa. Many of these species are widespread in the Old World tropics and the few African endemics appear to be closely related to them. A synopsis of the genera Desmodium, Pseudarthria, Alysicarpus and Lespedeza is given for southern Africa.
Indigofera confusa is an illegitimate name and a case is made for its replacement by I. pretorian... more Indigofera confusa is an illegitimate name and a case is made for its replacement by I. pretoriana Harms. Confusion over the status of both names is clarified.
The Leguminosae (or Fabaceae) currently comprises 751 genera. In most of the world's herbaria the... more The Leguminosae (or Fabaceae) currently comprises 751 genera. In most of the world's herbaria the genera are arranged by old, non-phylogenetic, classification systems which, while offering insights into morphological similarity, make no explicit statement as to evolutionary relationships. While classifications based on morphology are useful tools for plant identification, they do not offer the predictive value that phylogenetically based linear sequences provide. The legume collection of c.750,000 specimens in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was moved to a new building between 2010 and 2011, which presented the opportunity to reorganise the collection by a linear sequence based on a number of relatively comprehensive published legume phylogenies. The numbered linear sequence adopted at Kew has been updated and emended to include generic changes that have been published up to March 2013. The linear sequence, together with an alphabetical list of genera, is presented here to serve as a management tool for future taxon sampling and herbarium curation. The process used to develop the linear sequence and to rearrange the legume collection at Kew is discussed together with plans for future dissemination of changes to the sequence as new phylogenies are published and incorporated.
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Papers by Brian Schrire