''Krascheninnikovia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily

Chenopodioideae The Chenopodioideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Amaranthaceae in the APG III system, which is largely based on molecular phylogeny, but were included - together with other subfamilies - in family Chenopodiaceae in the Cronquist ...

of the family

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

known as winterfat, so-called because it is a nutritious livestock forage. They are known from Eurasia and western North America. These are hairy perennials or small

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s which may be

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

or dioecious. They bear spike

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s of woolly flowers.

Description

The species of ''Krascheninnikovia'' are erect

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

s or

shrubs A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

. The plants are densely covered with dendroid stellate hairs and additionally with simple, unbranched hairs. The alternate

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

stand solitary or grouped in fascicles, and can be petiolate or nearly sessile. The flat, non-fleshy leaf blades are linear to narrowly lanceolate to ovate, with entire margins, and truncate, cuneate, rounded, or subcordate base. The flowers are

unisexual Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, the plants can be

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

. Male flowers form an interrupted spike or subcapitate

of glomeruled, ebracteate flowers. These consist of 4 basally connate

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

segments, that are ovate or elliptic, membranous and abaxially hairy; and 4

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

with oblong

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s and linear, exserted filaments. Female flowers sitting single or paired axillary, enclosed by 2 hairy

bracteole In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s, that are connate in the lower part, compressed to slightly keeled, with 4 hornlike tips; a perianth is missing, the female flowers consist just of an ovary with a short style and 2 elongated stigmas. The hairy fruit enclosed by the bracteoles is ovate and compressed, its membranous pericarp is free from the seed. The vertically orientated seed has a brown thin seed coat covered with white hairs. The embryo is nearly annular or horseshoe-shaped and encloses the copious perisperm. The

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

base number is x=9, for example 2n=36 for ''Krascheninnikovia ceratoides'', 2n=18 and 2n=36 for ''Krascheninnikovia lanata''.

Distribution

The species of ''Krascheninnikovia'' are mostly distributed in

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...

, two species occur in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. In

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, ''

Krascheninnikovia ceratoides ''Krascheninnikovia ceratoides'', the Pamirian winterfat, is a plant species native to Central Europe and Southern Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. It has been reported from Russia, China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, ...

'' is the only species, it is native in eastern and Southern Europe, Winterfat occurs in dry valley bottoms, on flat mesas, and on hillsides, at elevations between 2,400 and 9,300 feet. It is drought resistant and intolerant of flooding, excess water, or acidic soils. Seed production especially in desert regions, is dependent on precipitation. Good seed years occur when there is appreciable summer precipitation and little browsing. Winterfat occurs on well-drained, calcareous soils with low to moderate salt concentrations.

Systematics

''Krascheninnikovia'' has been first described in 1772 by

Johann Anton Güldenstädt Johann Anton Güldenstädt (26 April 1745 in Riga, Latvia – 23 March 1781 in St. Petersburg, Russia) was a Baltic German natural history, naturalist and explorer in Russian service. Güldenstädt lost both his parents early, and from 1763 onw ...

(in: ''Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperalis Petropolitanae'', 16, p. 551). The genus was named for the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and explorer of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and wes ...

Stepan Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov (russian: Степа́н Петро́вич Крашени́нников; – ) was a Russian explorer of Siberia, naturalist and geographer who gave the first full description of Kamchatka in the early 18th cent ...

. The type species is ''

'' (L.) Gueldenst. The older name ''Ceratoides'' had to be rejected: it referred just to a pre-

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

description by

Joseph Pitton de Tournefort Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (5 June 165628 December 1708) was a French botanist, notable as the first to make a clear definition of the concept of genus for plants. Botanist Charles Plumier was his pupil and accompanied him on his voyages. Lif ...

, comprising the type of the related genus ''

Ceratocarpus ''Ceratocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot ...

''. The genus ''Krascheninnikovia'' belongs to the subfamily

of the family

. After

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

research, it was grouped into the tribe Axyrideae. Krascheninnikovia ceratoides sl 4

The genus includes about (3) 7 species: *''

Krascheninnikovia arborescens ''Krascheninnikovia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae known as winterfat, so-called because it is a nutritious livestock forage. They are known from Eurasia and western North America. Th ...

'' (Losinsk.) Czerep.: in China *''

'' (L.) Gueldenst. (including ''Krascheninnikovia lenensis'' (Kumin.) Tzvelev): from Europe to East Asia *'' Krascheninnikovia compacta'' (Losinsk.) Grubov: in China and Tajikistan *'' Krascheninnikovia ewersmannia'' (Stschegl. ex Losinsk.) Grubov: from Kazakhstan to China (Xinjiang) * '' Krascheninnikovia fruticulosa'' (Pazij.) Czerep.: in Asia *''

Krascheninnikovia lanata ''Krascheninnikovia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae known as winterfat, so-called because it is a nutritious livestock forage. They are known from Eurasia and western North America. Th ...

'' (Pursh) A.Meeuse & A.Smit: in North America * '' Krascheninnikovia pungens'' (Popov) Czerep.: in Asia

References

Noel H. Holmgren
''Krascheninnikovia'' - online
In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 4: Magnoliophyta: Caryophyllidae, part 1. Oxford University Press, New York 2003, . ''Krascheninnikovia'' - online.
In: Helmut Freitag et al.: Chenopodiaceae. In: Flora of Pakistan, Volume 204 - Missouri Botanical Garden Press & University of Karachi. Gelin Zhu, Sergei L. Mosyakin & Steven E. Clemants
''Krascheninnikovia'' - online.
In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Ed.): Flora of China. Volume 5: Ulmaceae through Basellaceae. Science Press/Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing/St. Louis 2003, . ''Krascheninnikovia'' at Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) Online Database
, accessed 2013-07-15 Gudrun Kadereit, Evgeny V. Mavrodiev, Elizabeth H. Zacharias & Alexander P. Sukhorukov (2010): Molecular phylogeny of Atripliceae (Chenopodioideae, Chenopodiaceae): Implications for systematics, biogeography, flower and fruit evolution, and the origin of C4 Photosynthesis, In: ''American Journal of Botany'', Volume 97 (10), p. 1664-1687. ''Krascheninnikovia'' at ''The Plant List''
accessed 2013-07-15 ''Krascheninnikovia'' at ''Tropicos''
accessed 2013-07-15 Pertti Uotila, 2011: ''Chenopodiaceae (pro parte majore):'
''Krascheninnikovia'' – In: ''Euro+Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity''
accessed 2013-07-15

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1628533 Chenopodioideae Amaranthaceae genera Taxa named by Johann Anton Güldenstädt