Variation in the colour and shape of capitula in Parkia bicolor (Leguminosae) illustrated by two watercolours from southern Nigeria painted by Dorothy Amaury Talbot (1871–1916)

Abstract

As currently circumscribed, Parkia bicolor A. Chev. (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade) includes all the African material of this genus in which the red or reddish capitula have a well-developed fringe formed by long staminodial filaments that extend from the basal sterile flowers; the fertile flowers in each capitulum form a large apical ball, which is either spherical or ellipsoidal. Capitula of different shapes and colours in this widely circumscribed species are illustrated in two watercolour paintings at the Natural History Museum (NMH) in London, both labelled “Mr. & Mrs. P. A. Talbot 1912, 1913. Southern Nigeria”. Each painting appears to be a composite based on more than one collection. The Talbots’ plant specimens (c. 4,000 numbers) and paintings and sketches (c. 1,000) at the NHM have sometimes been attributed to either Percy Amaury Talbot entirely, or to both Percy and his wife Dorothy together. However, sources including correspondence between the Talbots and botanists at the NHM make clear that Dorothy was responsible for all the artwork and for the majority of their herbarium collections. Descriptions and photographs in addition to Dorothy’s artwork suggest that variation in the shape of the capitula is potentially of greater taxonomic significance than differences in colour, but we refrain from drawing any taxonomic conclusions until a comprehensive morphological analysis of P. bicolor has been carried out.