Roepera is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae, subfamily Zygophylloideae. It is native to Australia and south-western Africa, from Angola to South Africa.
Description Species of Roepera are shrubs, subshrubs or herbaceous plants. The shrubby species may be up to tall. The leaves are opposite, with or without petioles, and have one or two leaflets. The flowers have four or five sepals, which persist in the fruit, and four or five petals of various colours. The eight to ten stamens usually have undivided appendages. The ovary has four or five locules (chambers). The fruit is usually a capsule, or more rarely a winged schizocarp. The seeds are mucilaginous and have a more-or-less well developed aril.
Taxonomy The genus Roepera was first published by Adrien-Henri de Jussieu in 1825, for two Australian species of Zygophyllum. However, de Jussieu did not actually publish the two new combinations, Roepera billardierei and Roepera fruticulosa. These were published by George Don in 1831. The genus was rarely used until the 21st century, the two species being kept in Zygophyllum. Molecular phylogenetic studies in 2000 and 2003 showed that the genus Zygophyllum, as then circumscribed, was polyphyletic. In 2003, Beier et al. resurrected Roepera as part of revising Zygophyllum to make it monophyletic. About 60 former Zygophyllum species were placed in Roepera. The genus is placed in subfamily Zygophylloideae.
Species , Plants of the World Online recognized 60 species:
Roepera ammophila (F.Muell.) Beier & Thulin Roepera angustifolia (H.Eichler) Beier & Thulin Roepera apiculata (F.Muell.) Beier & Thulin Roepera aurantiaca Lindl. Roepera billardierei (DC.) G.Don Roepera botulifolia (Van Zyl) Beier & Thulin Roepera compressa (J.M.Black) Beier & Thulin Roepera confluens (H.Eichler) Beier & Thulin Roepera cordifolia (L.f.) Beier & Thulin Roepera crassissima (Ising) Beier & Thulin Roepera crenata (F.Muell.) Beier & Thulin Roepera cuneifolia (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Beier & Thulin Roepera debilis (Cham.) Beier & Thulin Roepera divaricata (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Beier & Thulin Roepera eichleri (R.M.Barker) Beier & Thulin Roepera emarginata (H.Eichler) Beier & Thulin Roepera eremaea (Diels) Beier & Thulin Roepera flava (H.Eichler ex R.M.Barker) Beier & Thulin Roepera flexuosa (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Beier & Thulin Roepera foetida (Schrad. & J.C.Wendl.) Beier & Thulin Roepera fruticulosa (DC.) G.Don Roepera fulva (L.) Beier & Thulin Roepera fuscata (Van Zyl) Beier & Thulin Roepera glauca (F.Muell.) Beier & Thulin Roepera halophila (R.M.Barker) Beier & Thulin Roepera hirticaulis (Van Zyl) Beier & Thulin Roepera horrida (Cham.) Beier & Thulin Roepera howittii (F.Muell.) Beier & Thulin Roepera humillima (Max Koch ex Tate) Beier & Thulin Roepera hybrida (Tate) Beier & Thulin Roepera incrustata (E.Mey. ex Sond.) Beier & Thulin Roepera iodocarpa (F.Muell.) Beier & Thulin Roepera kochii (Tate) Beier & Thulin Roepera leptopetala (E.Mey. ex Sond.) Beier & Thulin Roepera leucoclada (Diels) Beier & Thulin Roepera lichtensteiniana (Cham.) Beier & Thulin Roepera lobulata (Benth.) Beier & Thulin Roepera macrocarpos (Retief) Beier & Thulin Roepera maculata (Aiton) Beier & Thulin Roepera maritima (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Beier & Thulin Roepera marliesiae (R.M.Barker) Beier & Thulin Roepera microphylla (L.f.) Beier & Thulin Roepera morgsana (L.) Beier & Thulin Roepera orbiculata (Welw. ex Oliv.) Beier & Thulin Roepera ovata (Ewart & Jean White) Beier & Thulin Roepera prismatotheca (F.Muell.) Beier & Thulin Roepera pubescens (Schinz) Beier & Thulin Roepera pygmaea (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Beier & Thulin Roepera reticulata (H.Eichler ex R.M.Barker) Beier & Thulin Roepera retivalvis (Domin) Beier & Thulin Roepera rogersii (Compton) Beier & Thulin Roepera rowelliae (R.M.Barker) Beier & Thulin Roepera schreiberiana (Merxm. & Giess) Beier & Thulin Roepera sessilifolia (L.) Beier & Thulin Roepera similis (H.Eichler) Beier & Thulin Roepera sphaerocarpa (Schltr. ex Huysst.) Beier & Thulin Roepera spinosa (L.) Beier & Thulin Roepera teretifolia (Schltr.) Beier & Thulin Roepera tesquorum (J.M.Black) Beier & Thulin Roepera tetraptera (H.Eichler ex R.M.Barker) Beier & Thulin
Distribution Roepera has a discontinuous distribution. Species are native to Australia, and to the western side of southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and the Cape Provinces and Free State of South Africa). The genus appears to have originated in Africa, and dispersed into Australia about . Species are found in warm and arid areas.
Gallery
References , p. 454