, by
William Curtis, published in 1799
Carl Linnaeus was the first to describe a species now assigned to this genus, and he called it
Trifolium fruticans. It is now known as
Otholobium fruticans. This name was published in the
Species Plantarum in 1753, the first work to consistently apply
binomial names. Two further species were described by
Carl Linnaeus the Younger in 1781. He named them
Psoralea rotundifolia and
P. stachydis, and these species are now known as
Otholobium rotundifolium and
O. hirtum. This was followed in 1794 by
Jean Louis Marie Poiret who added
P. acuminata,
P. ononoides and
P. sericea, which are currently named
O. acuminatum,
O. virgatum and
O. sericeum respectively. When
Carl Thunberg, who visited the Cape from 1772 till 1775,
revised Psoralea in 1823, and therein added
P. tomentosa,
P. racemosa,
P. argentea and
P. striata (now
O. sericeum,
O. racemosum,
O. argenteum and
O. striatum).
Ernst Heinrich Friedrich Meyer described in 1832
Psoralea obliqua (now
Otholobium obliquum),
P. bracteata var.
bracteata (now
O. fruticans) and
P. bracteata var.
brevibracteata (the current
O. bracteolatum). In 1836,
Psoralea was reviewed by
Christian Friedrich Ecklon and
Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher, who distinguished
P. albicans (=
O. argenteum),
P. algoensis and
P. bracteolata (which are considered to be
conspecific and are known today as
O. bracteolatum),
P. candicans (now
O. candicans),
P. cephalotes and
P. stachyerum (both now included in
O. stachyerum),
P. hilaris (currently
O. racemosum),
P. polyphylla (now
O. polyphyllum),
P. rupicola (now included in
O. striatum),
P. uncinata (now
O. uncinatum) and
P. venusta (now
O. venustum). In the same year Meyer published a revision in which he distinguished
P. carnea,
P. obliqua,
P. parviflora,
P. triantha (now known as
O. carneum,
O. obliquum,
O. parviflorum and
O. trianthum respectively),
P. cephalotes (=
O. stachyerum),
P. densa (=
O. acuminatum), and
P. spathulata (=
O. mundianum). In Volume II of the
Flora Capensis, published in 1862,
William Henry Harvey newly described
P. bowieana,
P. hamata,
P. macradenia,
P. polysticta and
P. thomii (now
O. bowieanum,
O. hamatum,
O. macradenium,
O. polysticum,
O. thomii).
Daniel Oliver described
Psoralea foliosa (=
O. foliosum) in 1885, while
Edmund Gilbert Baker distinguished
P. foliosa var.
gazense (=
O. subsp.
gazense) in 1911.
Helena Forbes added in 1930
P. bolusii (=
Otholobium bolusii) and
P. royffei (included in
O. afrum).
Henry Georges Fourcade described
P. heterosepalum (=
O. heterosepalum) in 1932. The genus
Otholobium was erected in 1981 by the British/South African botanist
Charles Stirton. He chose
Psoralea afra as
type species. He reassigned many species previously included in
Psoralea to his new genus and described many new species since then:
Otholobium pungens in 1981,
O. rubicundum and
O. pictum in 1982,
O. accrescens,
O. arborescens,
O. dreweae,
O. flexuosum,
O. fumeum,
O. incanum,
O. lanceolatum,
O. lucens,
O. nigricans,
O. nitens,
O. prodiens,
O. pustulatum,
O. sabulosum,
O. saxosum and
O. spissum in 1989. He described
O. fumeum and
O. nigricans from Natal and Transvaal in 1990. Also in 1990,
James Grimes proposed to include eight species that occur in the Andes mountains:
O. brachystachyum,
O. glandulosum,
O. higuerilla,
O. holosericeum,
O. munyense,
O. pubescens (originally
Psoralea brachystachya,
P. glandulosa,
P. higuerilla,
P. holosericea,
P. munyense and
P. pubescens),
O. mexicanum (
Indigofera mexicana) and the new species
O. diffidens. Probably, the Andean species should be removed from
Otholobium.
O. curtisiae was described in 2013 by Stirton together with
A. Muthama Muasya. These two authors further described
O. accrescens,
O. dreweae,
O. lanceolatum,
O. lucens,
O. nitens,
O. piliferum,
O. prodiens,
O. sabulosum, and
O. saxosum in 2017.
Plants of the World Online treats
Otholobium as a synonym of
Psoralea. The name of the genus
Otholobium is a combination of the Greek words ὠθέω (ōthéō) meaning to push and λοβός (lobos) meaning pod, which Stirton selected because its fruit seems to be pushed out of the calyx.
Phylogeny Comparison of homologous DNA has increased the insight in the phylogenetic relationships. The following tree represents current insight in the relationship within the Psoraleeae.---> == Distribution, habitat and ecology ==