Dysphania is a genus of plants in the family Amaranthaceae. Species of the genus are found worldwide from the tropics and subtropics to warm-temperate regions.
Description
The species of genus
Dysphania are
or short-lived
. They are covered with stalked or sessile
and therefore with aromatic scent (or malodorous to some people). Some species have uniseriate multicellular
, rarely becoming glabrous. The stems are erect, ascending, decumbent, or prostrate and mostly branched.
The alternate leaves are mostly petiolate, (the upper ones sometimes sessile). The leaf blade is linear, lanceolate, oblanceolate, ovate, or elliptic, often pinnately lobed, with cuneate or truncate base, entire, dentate, or serrate margins.
The are terminal, loose, simple or compound cymes or dense axillary glomerules. are absent or reduced.
Flowers are bisexual (rarely unisexual), with up to five connate only basally or fused to form sac, one to five , and a superior ovary with one to three filiform stigmata.
The fruit is often enclosed in perianth. The membranous pericarp is adherent or nonadherent to the horizontal or vertical, subglobose, or lenticular seed. The seed coat is smooth or rugose. The annular or incompletely annular embryo is surrounding the copious farinose perisperm.
Chromosome numbers
Chromosome numbers reported are 2n=16, 18, 32, 36, and 48.
Photosynthesis pathway
All species of genus
Dysphania are C
3 plants with normal leaf anatomy.
Distribution
The genus
Dysphania is distributed worldwide from the tropics and subtropics to warm-temperate regions. In
Europe, the species are native,
, or naturalized, in the northern regions absent or rarely
adventive.
Systematics
The genus
Dysphania belongs to the tribe Dysphanieae in the subfamily
Chenopodioideae within the plant family
Amaranthaceae. According to
phylogenetic research, it is related to genus
Suckleya.
Dysphania was first published in 1810 by Robert Brown in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae, p. 411-412.
The genus Dysphania comprised primarily 7-10 Australian species. Some authorities group them as their own separate family, Dysphaniaceae, or alternatively treat them as members of the families Illecebraceae and Caryophyllaceae.
The genus Dysphania consists of 46 species classified in at least four sections:
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Dysphania sect. Adenois (Moq.) Mosyakin & Clemants: 15 species, native in South and Middle America, now distributed worldwide from the tropics to warm-temperate regions:
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Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants - Epazote, Mexican-tea: native in North- and South America, naturalized in other continents.
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Dysphania anthelmintica (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Dysphania burkartii (Aellen) Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Dysphania chilensis (Schrad.) Mosyakin & Clemants - native in Argentina and Chile.
-
Dysphania multifida (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants - Cut-leaf goosefoot, small-leaved wormseed: native in South America, introduced from the tropics to warm-temperate regions.
-
Dysphania oblanceolata (Speg.) Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Dysphania tomentosa (Thouars) Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Dysphania venturii (Aellen) Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Dysphania sect. Botryoides (C.A.Mey.) Mosyakin & Clemants: with two subsections:
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Dysphania sect. Botryoides subsect. Botrys (Aellen & Iljin) Mosyakin & Clemants: with 9 species, worldwide, native in southern North America, northern South America, southern Eurasia and Africa.
-
Dysphania botrys (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants - Jerusalem-oak, feather-geranium: native from Middle Europa to China (Xinjiang), naturalized or cultivated in other temperate regions.
-
Dysphania nepalensis (Link ex Colla) Mosyakin & Clemants - in Central Asia
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Dysphania procera (Hochst. ex Moq.) Mosyakin & Clemants
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Dysphania pseudomultiflora (Murray) Verloove & Lambinon - In South Africa.
-
Dysphania schraderiana (Schult.) Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Dysphania sect. Botryoides subsect. Incisa (Standley) Mosyakin & Clemants:
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Dysphania dissecta (Moq.) Mosyakin & Clemants - south-western North America and in South America
-
Dysphania incisa (Poir.) ined.
-
Dysphania sect. Dysphania, with 8 species in Australia:
-
Dysphania glandulosa Paul G.Wilson - in Australia
-
Dysphania glomulifera (Nees) Paul G.Wilson - in Australia
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Dysphania kalpari Paul G.Wilson - in Australia
-
Dysphania littoralis R.Br. - in Australia
-
Dysphania plantaginella F.Muell. - in Australia
-
Dysphania platycarpa Paul G.Wilson - in Australia
-
Dysphania rhadinostachya (F.Muell.) A.J.Scott - in Australia
-
Dysphania simulans F.Muell. & Tate - in Australia
-
Dysphania sphaerosperma Paul G.Wilson - in Australia
-
Dysphania valida Paul G.Wilson - in Australia
-
Dysphania sect. Orthospora (R.Br.) Mosyakin & Clemants: with 7 species in New Zealand and Australia, some species introduced in other regions:
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Dysphania carinata (R.Br.) Mosyakin & Clemants - native in Australia, naturalized in other continents.
-
Dysphania cristata (F.Muell.) Mosyakin & Clemants) - native in Australia, naturalized in other continents.
-
Dysphania melanocarpa (J.M.Black) Mosyakin & Clemants - black crumbweed
-
Dysphania pumilio (R.Br.) Mosyakin & Clemants - Clammy goosefoot, small crumbweed: native in Australia, naturalized in other continents.
-
Dysphania pusilla Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Dysphania saxatilis (Paul G.Wilson) Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Dysphania truncata (Paul G.Wilson) Mosyakin & Clemants
-
Not yet grouped to a section:
-
Dysphania atriplicifolia (Spreng.) G.Kadereit, Sukhor. & Uotila
-
Dysphania bhutanica Sukhor.
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Dysphania bonariensis (Hook.f.) Mosyakin & Clemants ex Sukhor.
-
Dysphania × bontei (Aellen) Stace
-
Dysphania × christii (Aellen) Stace
-
Dysphania congestiflora S.J.Dillon & A.S.Markey
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Dysphania congolana (Hauman) Mosyakin & Clemants - in Africa
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Dysphania geoffreyi Sukhor.
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Dysphania himalaica Uotila
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Dysphania kitiae Uotila
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Dysphania minuata (Aellen) Mosyakin & Clemants
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Dysphania multiflora (Moq.) G.Kadereit, Sukhor. & Uotila
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Dysphania neglecta Sukhor.
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Dysphania retusa (Moq.) Mosyakin & Clemants ex Brignone
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Dysphania stellata (S.Watson) Mosyakin & Clemants - This species has 6-8 tepals
-
Dysphania tibetica (A.J.Li) Uotila
Usage
Epazote or Mexican tea (
Dysphania ambrosioides) and American wormseed (
Dysphania anthelmintica) are
. Epazote is used as a
tisane and as an
insecticide.
Some species of
Dysphania are used as
dye.
-
Steven E. Clemants & Sergei L. Mosyakin (2003): Dysphania - 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, , p. 267. (chapters description, distribution, systematics)
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Sergei L. Mosyakin, Steven E. Clemants (2008): Further Transfers of glandular-pubescent species from Chenopodium subg. Ambrosia to Dysphania (Chenopodiaceae). In: Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas Vol.2, Nr. 1, p. 425–431. (chapter systematics)
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Gelin Zhu, Sergei L. Mosyakin & Steven E. Clemants (2003): Chenopodiaceae: Dysphania – online. In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Hrsg.): Flora of China. Volume 5: Ulmaceae through Basellaceae. Science Press u.a., Beijing u.a., , p. 376. (chapter description, vernacular name)
-
species and distribution at GRIN, retrieved 30 November 2011
[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, 97(10), p. 1664–1687.]
[ Dysphania ambrosioides at Liber Herbarum, retrieved 30 November 2011.]
[ Dysphania schraderiana at Liber Herbarum, retrieved 30 November 2011.]
[ First publication scanned at Biodiversity Heritage Library]
[Erich Oberdorfer, Theo Müller (1983): Pflanzensoziologische Exkursionsflora. 5. ed., Ulmer, Stuttgart, , p.342]
[ Tropicos, retrieved 30 November 2011.]
[Pertti Uotila (2011): Chenopodiaceae (pro parte majore). – In: Euro+Med Plantbase – the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Dysphania. Euro+Med Plantbase, retrieved 30 November 2011.]
External links
