''Incarvillea semiretschenskia'' is a rare perennial flower
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to dry, rocky hillsides in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, placed on the IUCN Red List in 1997.
[Walter, K. S. & Gillett, H. J. (1998). ''1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants.''][Czerepanov, S. K. (2007) ''Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR).''] It was first described as ''Niedzwedzkia semiretschenskia'', the only species in the genus ''Niedzwedzkia''. It has also been placed as the only species in ''Incarvillea'' subgenus ''Niedzwedzkia''.
Description
The plant has numerous wiry upright stems growing to a height of 45 cm from a sub-shrub base. The leaves are deeply incised with linear lobes. The orange-pink tubular flowers are 6 cm long by 4 cm across. The fruits are 5 cm long and feature six very wavy wings.
[Phillips, R. & Rix, M. (1989). ''Perennials'', Vol. 1, p. 187. Pan Books Ltd., London. ] Ploidy
Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell (biology), cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for Autosome, autosomal and Pseudoautosomal region, pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of mat ...
''2n'' = 22.
[Chen, S. et al. (2005). Molecular phylogeny of Incarvillea (Bignoniaceae) based on ITS and TRN L-F sequences. ''American Journal of Botany'' 92 (4): 625-633.]
Taxonomy
The species was first described by
Boris Fedchenko in 1915 as ''Niedzwedzkia semiretschenskia'',
the only species in the genus ''Niedzwedzkia'', named for the Russian botanist
Vladislav Niedzwiecki.
[ In 1931, Grierson transferred it to ''''.]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 ...
study in 2005 found that ''Incarvillea semiretschenskia'' was basal to the rest of the genus ''Incarvillea'', giving support to the placement in a separate subgenus, ''Incarvillea'' subgenus ''Niedzwedzkia''. Unlike other species of the genus, it has winged capsules and septifragal dehiscence.[
]
Cultivation
The plant demands well drained dry soil in a warm position exposed to full sun; it is hardy to -15° Celsius.[
]
Accessions
* Tashkent Botanical Garden.
Institut of Botany and Phytointroduction, Almaty
References
* ''The New Plantsman'' ''Incarvillea semiretschenskia'' (Fedtsch.) Grierson Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 23:350 (1961)
* Winterholler, B. (2019). The Genus ''Incarvillea'' and mysterious ''Niedzwedzkia''. Sankt-petersburg:SUPER-Isdatelstvo. -162 p.
Bignoniaceae
Flora of Kazakhstan
{{Bignoniaceae-stub