Hoffmannseggia
Encyclopedia
Hoffmannseggia is a genus of flowering plant
s in the pea
family, Fabaceae
, known generally as rushpeas. These are pod-bearing herbs
and subshrub
s native to the Americas
and southern Africa
.
The generic name honors Johann Centurius, Count of Hoffmannsegg
, a nineteenth-century German
nobleman and botanist.
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the pea
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
family, Fabaceae
Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
, known generally as rushpeas. These are pod-bearing herbs
Herbaceous plant
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
and subshrub
Subshrub
A subshrub or dwarf shrub is a short woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a similar term.It is distinguished from a shrub by its ground-hugging stems and lower height, with overwintering perennial woody growth typically less than 10–20 cm tall, or by being only weakly woody and/or persisting...
s native to the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and southern Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
The generic name honors Johann Centurius, Count of Hoffmannsegg
Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg
Johann Centurius Hoffmann Graf von Hoffmannsegg was a German botanist, entomologist and ornithologist.Hoffmannsegg was born at Rammenau and studied at Leipzig and Göttingen. He travelled through Europe acquiring vast collections of plants and animals. He visited Hungary, Austria and Italy in...
, a nineteenth-century German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
nobleman and botanist.
Selected species
- Hoffmannseggia burchellii
- Hoffmannseggia drepanocarpa - sicklepod holdback
- Hoffmannseggia drummondii - dwarf nicker
- Hoffmannseggia glaucaHoffmannseggia glaucaHoffmannseggia glauca is a dicot found in the legume family, Fabaceae. Its common names include Indian rushpea, hog potato, and pig nut....
- Indian rushpea, pig-nut, hog potato - Hoffmannseggia intricata
- Hoffmannseggia lactea
- Hoffmannseggia microphyllaHoffmannseggia microphyllaHoffmannseggia microphylla is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name wand holdback. It is native to the southwestern United States and Baja California, where it grows in sandy and gravelly soils in the deserts.This is a twiggy shrub producing many slender,...
- wand holdback - Hoffmannseggia oxycarpa - sharppod rushpea
- Hoffmannseggia peninsularis
- Hoffmannseggia pumilio
- Hoffmannseggia repens - creeping nicker
- Hoffmannseggia sandersonii
- Hoffmannseggia tenellaHoffmannseggia tenellaHoffmannseggia tenella is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name slender rushpea. It is endemic to Texas, where it is known from only two counties. It persists in small remnants of its gulf coastal prairie habitat...
- slender rushpea - Hoffmannseggia viscosa
- Hoffmannseggia trifoliata