''Halimione'' is a plant
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
from 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 ...
. It is a sister genus of ''
Atriplex
''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''.
The genus is quite variable and w ...
'' and is included in that genus by
Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...
.
Description
The species in genus ''Halimione'' are
annual or
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
herbs with silvery grey stems and leaves.
Their
stems grow prostrate, ascending or erect. The
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 ...
are opposite in lower part and alternate in upper part of the plants. The leaf blade is oblong with entire margins.
Plants are
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 ...
. The spicate
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 consist of inconspicuous flowers. Male flowers comprise 4-5
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 and 4-5
stamens. Female flowers have 2 totally concrescent, three-lobed
bracteoles which enclose the ovary, a perianth is missing.
The
pericarp is tightly adherent to the inner side of the bracteoles, and also tightly adherent to the seed. The seed is vertically orientated, with a thin, membraneous seed coat. It is anatomically different from ''
Atriplex
''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''.
The genus is quite variable and w ...
'' (which has a brownish, thick and hard seed coat).
''
Halimione pedunculata'' and ''
Halimione verrucifera
''Halimione'' is a plant genus from the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae. It is a sister genus of ''Atriplex'' and is included in that genus by Plants of the World Online.
Description
The species in genus ''Halimione'' are ...
'' have a
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 ...
number of 2n = 18, ''Halimione portulacoides'' 2n = 36.
Systematics
The genus has been first described in 1822 as ''Halimus'' by
Karl Friedrich Wallroth Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...
(in ''Schedulae Criticae'', p. 117). But this name was illegitimate, as there existed already ''Halimus'' Patrick Browne (1756) in family
Portulacaceae. replaced this illegitimate name by the valid name ''Halimione'' in 1938 (in: ''Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel'', 49, p. 121). Type species is ''
Halimione pedunculata'' (L.) Aellen.
During the following years, ''Halimione'' has sometimes been included in ''
Atriplex
''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''.
The genus is quite variable and w ...
''.
Molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
research by Kadereit et al. (2010) revealed that ''Halimione'' is a sister genus of ''Atriplex''.
A 2019 study reached the same conclusion.
''Halimione'' comprises 3 species in 2 sections:
* ''Halimione'' section ''Halimione'', with one species:
** ''
Halimione pedunculata'' (L.) Aellen (Syn.: ''Atriplex pedunculata'' L.): A
halophyte from western Europe to western Asia and the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
.
* ''Halimione'' section ''Halimus'' (S.F.Gray) Sukhor., with 2 species:
** ''
Halimione portulacoides'' (L.) Aellen (Syn.: ''Atriplex portulacoides'' L.), sea purslane: at the sea shores of western and southern Europe, the mediterranean shores of North Africa to western Asia.
** ''
Halimione verrucifera
''Halimione'' is a plant genus from the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae. It is a sister genus of ''Atriplex'' and is included in that genus by Plants of the World Online.
Description
The species in genus ''Halimione'' are ...
'' (M.Bieb.) Aellen (Syn.: ''Atriplex verrucifera'' M.Bieb.): From eastern and southeast Europe (
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
) to Southwest Asia and Central Asia to China (Xinjiang)
Distribution
''Halimione'' is distributed 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 ...
,
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
, ranging from
Southwest Asia, and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
).
References
[Gelin Zhu, Sergei L. Mosyakin & Steven E. Clemants: ''Chenopodiaceae'']
''Atriplex verrucifera'' - online
In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Hrsg.): ''Flora of China'', Volume 5: ''Ulmaceae through Basellaceae.'', Science Press und Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing und St. Louis, 2003, .
[Gudrun Kadereit, Evgeny V. Mavrodiev, Elizabeth H. Zacharias & Alexander P. Sukhorukov: 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), 2010, p.1664–1687.]
[''Halimione''](_blank)
at Tropicos, accessed 2013-07-11.
[Uotila, P. (2011): Chenopodiaceae (pro parte majore). ]
''Halimione''
In: Euro+Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1328664
Chenopodioideae
Amaranthaceae genera