Montigena
Genus of legumes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Montigena is a genus of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It includes the sole species Montigena novae-zelandiae, known more commonly the scree pea, a dicotyledonous herb endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. The plant is small and woody, arising from thin, branched stems that extend to the surface from a deeply buried root stock. The flowers vary from purple to brown, while fruits appear between January and April.[2]
| Scree Pea | |
|---|---|
| |
| Montigena novae-zelandiae found in the central Waitaki District | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Genus: | Montigena Heenan (1998) |
| Species: | M. novae-zelandiae |
| Binomial name | |
| Montigena novae-zelandiae | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
|
Swainsona novae-zelandiae Hook.f. (1864) | |
M. novae-zelandiae was previously classified as Swainsona novae-zelandiae until 1998 when the genus Montigena was created based on the morphological features of the plant.[4][5]
Under the New Zealand Threat Classification System, it is classified as "At Risk - Declining". Its decline is predicted to be from 10% to 50% from a population of from 20,000 to 100,000 mature plants. Further comments are that it is sparse and that there are recruitment failures.[1]
Montigena is one of the four genera of native legumes in New Zealand; the other three are Carmichaelia, Clianthus, and Sophora.
