Gomphrenoideae

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The Gomphrenoideae are a subfamily of the Amaranthaceae.

The stamens have anthers with only one lobe (locule) and two pollen sacs. Many species show C4-photosynthesis pathway.[1]

The center of diversity lies in Central America, Mexico and the dry forests and thorn bush savannas of South America.[2]

Systematics

The subfamily Gomphrenoideae was first published in 1893 by Hans Schinz (in: Engler und Prantl (Eds.): Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien vol. 3, 1a, p. 97).

According to phylogenetic research by Sanchez Del-Pino (2009), the subfamily Gomphrenoideae Schinz is regarded as a monophyletic taxon with 19 genera and about 300-400 species. The traditional classification with two tribes (Gomphreneae and Pseudoplantageae) does not reflect the phylogenetic relationship in this group. Three clades can be recognized.:[1]

Iresinoids

  • Irenella Suess., with only one species:
    • Irenella chrysotricha Suess., in rain forests of Ecuador. Phylogenetically, it falls within Iresine.
  • Iresine P.Browne (Syn.: Dicraurus Hook. f.): with about 45 species in North and South America.
  • Woehleria Griseb.: with only one species
    • Woehleria serpyllifolia Griseb., on mountain coasts of Cuba. Phylogenetically, it falls within Iresine.

This is the sister clade of the two other clades.

Alternantheroids

  • Alternanthera Forssk. (Syn.: Brandesia Mart.): with about 100-200 species, mainly in America, also in Africa and Australia.
  • Pedersenia Holub: with about 10 species in tropical America.
  • Tidestromia Standl.: with about 6 species in deserts of southern North America.

C4 carbon fixation evolved independently in the genera Alternathera, which also contains C3 and C3–C4 intermediate species, and Tidestromia.[3][4]

Gomphrenoids

One large clade within this group, containing the genera Froelichia, Guilleminea, Blutaparon, some Gomphrena species, and probably Gossypianthus and Lithophila, has acquired the C4 carbon fixation pathway.[3][4] Some of these C4 species occur at unusually high altitudes in the Andes, in cooler conditions than their C3 relatives.[5]

Photographs

References

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  1. a b c Ivonne Sánchez del-Pino, Thomas Borsch & Timothy J. Motley (2009): trnL-F and rpl16 Sequence Data and Dense Taxon Sampling Reveal Monophyly of Unilocular Anthered Gomphrenoideae (Amaranthaceae) and an Improved Picture of Their Internal Relationships, In: Systematic Botany, Volume 34 (1), p. 57-67. Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers".
  2. Kai Müller & Thomas Borsch (2005): Phylogenetics of Amaranthaceae using matK/trnK sequence data – evidence from parsimony, likelihood and Bayesian approaches, In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 92, p. 66-102.
  3. a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1". Template:Open access
  4. a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1". Template:Open access
  5. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".

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