Salicornioideae

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Salicornioideae
Queller fg01.jpg
Salicornia europaea
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Subfamily: Salicornioideae
Ulbr.
Genera

About 11 genera, see text

The Salicornioideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Amaranthaceae (sensu lato, including the Chenopodiaceae). Important characters are succulent, often articulated stems, strongly reduced leaves, and flowers aggregated in thick, dense spike-shaped thyrses. These halophytic plants are distributed worldwide. Many are edible (see Samphire)

Contents

Allenrolfea occidentalis Allenrolfea occidentalis 4.jpg
Allenrolfea occidentalis
Halocnemum cruciatum Halocnemum strobilaceum.jpg
Halocnemum cruciatum
Kalidium caspicum Kalidium caspicum.jpg
Kalidium caspicum
Salicornia perennis Arthrocnemum perenne.jpg
Salicornia perennis

Description

The Salicornioideae are annual or perennial herbs, subshrubs, or low shrubs. Their stems are glabrous and often apparently jointed. The alternate or opposite leaves are fleshy, glabrous, often basally connate and stem-clasping (thus forming the joints), with missing or short free leaf blades.

The spike-shaped inflorescences consist of alternate or opposite bracts, these are often connate and stem-clasping, sometimes free. In the axil of each bract, there are one to five (rarely to twelve) flowers, free or sometimes fused to each other, to the bract, and to the inflorescence axis. The flowers are usually bisexual (the lateral flowers may be unisexual). The 2-5-lobed perianth consists of two to five connate tepals. There are one or two stamens and an ovary with mostly two stigmas.

In fruiting phase, the perianth remains membranous or becomes spongy, crustaceous, or horny. The fruit wall (pericarp) may be membranous, fleshy, chartaceous, crustaceous, woody, or horny. The seed is disc-shaped, lenticular, ovoid or wedge-shaped. Its surface may be smooth, papillose, reticulate, tuberculate or longitudinally ribbed. The embryo is curved, half-annular or horseshoe-shaped, rarely only slightly curved. In most genera, the seed contains copious perisperm, but a feeding tissue is missing in Salicornia .

Photosynthesis pathway

The majority of the Salicornieae species are C3-plants. There is only one species that has developed C4-photosynthesis, Tecticornia indica (syn. Halosarcia indica). [1]

Distribution and evolution

Plants from the Salicornioideae are found around the world. All are halophytes, growing in coastal or inland saline habitats.

The Salicornioideae originated in Eurasia about 38-28 million years ago, during the Late Eocene/Early Oligocene, and radiated rapidly into its major lineages. Kalidium , the Halocnemum/Halostachys -lineage, Halopeplis , and the Allenrolfea/Heterostachys -lineage were branching off early. Later developed the Arthrocnemum/ Microcnemum -lineage, the Halosarcia-lineage (with Halosarcia, Pachycornia, Tecticornia , Sclerostegia, Tegicornia), and the Salicornia/Sarcocornia-lineage. Already in the Middle Miocene, about 19-14 million years ago, all major lineages were present.

Systematics

The taxon was first published in 1849 by Alfred Moquin-Tandon as a tribe Salicornieae within the family Chenopodiaceae. [2] In 1934, Oskar Eberhard Ulbrich raised the taxon to subfamily level and named it Salicornioideae (in: A. Engler & K. Prantl (eds.): Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, ed. 2, Vol. 16c).

The family Chenopodiaceae is now included in Amaranthaceae s.l. [3]

Phylogenetic research supports the monophyly of the subfamily. According to Kadereit et al. (2006) and Piirainen et al. (2017), it comprises just one tribe, the Salicornieae. Traditionally two tribes had been distinguished, Halopeplideae and Salicornieae, but these are not monophyletic.

SarcocorniaA.J.Scott, with about 30 species worldwide, is now sunk into Salicornia . [4]

Related Research Articles

Amaranthaceae Family of flowering plants

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 the most species-rich lineage within its parent order, Caryophyllales.

<i>Salicornia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae

Salicornia is a genus of succulent, halophytic flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. Salicornia species are native to North America, Europe, South Africa, and South Asia. Common names for the genus include glasswort, pickleweed, picklegrass, and marsh samphire; these common names are also used for some species not in Salicornia. To French speakers in Atlantic Canada, they are known, colloquially, as "titines de souris". The main European species is often eaten, called marsh samphire in Britain, and the main North American species is occasionally sold in grocery stores or appears on restaurant menus, usually as 'sea beans' or samphire greens or sea asparagus.

Sarcocornia is a formerly recognized genus of flowering plants in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae. Species are known commonly as samphires, glassworts, or saltworts. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that when separated from Salicornia, the genus is paraphyletic, since Salicornia is embedded within it, and Sarcocornia has now been merged into a more broadly circumscribed Salicornia. When separated from Salicornia, the genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, and is most diverse in the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa.

Chenopodioideae Subfamily of flowering plants

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 system. Food species comprise Spinach, Good King Henry, several Chenopodium species, Orache, and Epazote. The name is Greek for goosefoot, the common name of a genus of plants having small greenish flowers.

<i>Tecticornia</i> Genus of plants

Tecticornia is a genus of succulent, salt tolerant plants largely endemic to Australia. Taxa in the genus are commonly referred to as samphires. In 2007, the genus Halosarcia, along with three other Australian genera was incorporated into the genus.

<i>Sarcocornia quinqueflora</i> Species of plant

Sarcocornia quinqueflora, commonly known as beaded samphire, bead weed, beaded glasswort or glasswort, is a species of succulent halophytic coastal shrub. It occurs in wetter coastal areas of Australia and New Zealand.

Arthroceras subterminale, synonyms Arthrocnemum subterminale, Salicornia subterminalis, is a species of flowering plant in the Amaranth family known by the common name Parish's glasswort. It is the only species in the genus Arthroceras. This coastal and inland California native plant is a shrub that is found southerly into the northern states of Mexico, also in both coastal and inland areas, including salt marshes, alkali flats, and other habitats with saline soils.

Betoideae Subfamily of flowering plants

The Betoideae are a small subfamily of the flowering plant amaranth family, Amaranthaceae sensu lato. Commonly known members include beet, sugar beet, chard, and mangelwurzel, which all are cultivars of Beta vulgaris.

Polycnemoideae Subfamily of flowering plants

The Polycnemoideae are a small subfamily of plants in the family Amaranthaceae, representing a basal evolutionary lineage. The few relictual species are distributed in Eurasia and North Africa, North America, and Australia.

<i>Tecticornia indica</i> Species of flowering plant

Tecticornia indica is a species of plant that is succulent and halophyte which grows in salt marshes on tropical areas of the world. This plant belongs to the Chenopodiaceae, which are now included in family Amaranthaceae.

<i>Halostachys</i> Genus of flowering plants

Halostachys is a genus of flowering plants in the plant family Amaranthaceae, containing a single species, Halostachys caspica. The plants are small to medium halophytic shrubs with apparently jointed fleshy stems and scale-like leaves. They are native to Asia and southeastern Europe.

<i>Kalidium</i> Genus of flowering plants

Kalidium is a genus of flowering plants in the plant family Amaranthaceae. The species are shrubby halophytes distributed in Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia and Central Asia to China.

<i>Heterostachys</i> Genus of flowering plants

Heterostachys is a genus of flowering plants in the plant family Amaranthaceae. The two species are shrubby halophytes native to South America and Central America.

<i>Allenrolfea</i> Genus of flowering plants

Allenrolfea is a genus of shrubs in the family Amaranthaceae. The genus was named for the English botanist Robert Allen Rolfe. There are three species, ranging from North America to South America.

Arthrocnemum was a genus of shrubs in the family Amaranthaceae. Two or three species were included in the genus. They are halophytes with fleshy, apparently articulated plant stems and reduced leaves and flowers.

<i>Halocnemum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Halocnemum is a genus of halophytic shrubs in the family Amaranthaceae. The plants are fleshy and apparently articulated with characteristic globular or short-cylindrical lateral branches, and reduced leaves and flowers. There are two species, occurring from Southern Europe and North Africa to Asia.

<i>Halopeplis</i> Genus of flowering plants

Halopeplis is a genus in the family Amaranthaceae. The plants are halophytes with not articulated stems and fleshy stem-clasping leaves. There are three species, occurring from the Mediterranean basin and North Africa to Southwest Asia and Central Asia.

<i>Microcnemum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Microcnemum is a genus in the plant family Amaranthaceae, containing a single species, Microcnemum coralloides. It is a dwarf annual halophyte with fleshy, apparently jointed stems and reduced leaves and flowers. The two subspecies show a disjunct distribution in Spain and Western Asia.

<i>Patellifolia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Patellifolia is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Betoideae of the family Amaranthaceae. These are mostly procumbent herbs occurring in the Western Mediterranean region and Macaronesia, with some isolated occurrences in North Africa and at the Horn of Africa. They are interesting as crop wild relatives of sugar beet.

Kelly Anne Shepherd is an Australian botanist, who has published some 91 names.

References

  1. Kadereit, Gudrun; Borsch, Thomas; Weising, K.; Freitag, Helmut (2003). "Phylogeny of Amaranthaceae and Chenopodiaceae and the evolution of C4 photosynthesis". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 164 (6): 979. doi:10.1086/378649. S2CID   83564261.
  2. Alfred Moquin-Tandon: Salsolaceae. in: De Candolle (ed.): Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 13 (2), 1849, p. 144. Masson, Paris. first publication of Salicornieae scanned at BHL
  3. Müller, Kai; Borsch, Thomas (2005). "Phylogenetics of Amaranthaceae using matK/trnK sequence data – evidence from parsimony, likelihood and Bayesian approaches". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 92: 66–102. JSTOR   3298649.
  4. 1 2 Piirainen, Mikko; Liebisch, Oskar & Kadereit, Gudrun (2017). "Phylogeny, biogeography, systematics and taxonomy of Salicornioideae (Amaranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae) – A cosmopolitan, highly specialized hygrohalophyte lineage dating back to the Oligocene". Taxon. 66 (1): 109–132. doi:10.12705/661.6.
  5. 1 2 Ball, Peter W.; Cornejo, Xavier; Kadereit, Gudrun (2017), "Mangleticornia (Amaranthaceae: Salicornioideae) — a new sister for Salicornia from the Pacific coast of South America", Willdenowia, 47 (2): 145–153, doi: 10.3372/wi.47.47206
  6. Shepherd, K.A.; Waycott, M.; Calladine, A. (2004), "Radiation of the Australian Salicornioideae (Chenopodiaceae)--based on evidence from nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences", American Journal of Botany, 91 (9): 1387–97, doi: 10.3732/ajb.91.9.1387 , PMID   21652372 , retrieved 2008-05-26
  7. Shepherd, Kelly A.; Wilson, Paul G. (2007), "Incorporation of the Australian genera Halosarcia, Pachycornia, Sclerostegia and Tegicornia into Tecticornia (Salicornioideae, Chenopodiaceae)", Australian Systematic Botany, 20 (4): 319, doi:10.1071/SB07002