Bassia All., Melanges Philos. Math. Soc. Roy. Turin 3: 177 (1766)

Sukhorukov, Alexander P., Liu, Pei-Liang & Kushunina, Maria, 2019, Taxonomic revision of Chenopodiaceae in Himalaya and Tibet, PhytoKeys 116, pp. 1-141 : 98

15. Bassia All., Melanges Philos. Math. Soc. Roy. Turin 3: 177 (1766)

Bassia aegyptiaca All. (= B. muricata (L.) Asch.) (Type).

Description.

Annuals or subshrubs with simple, alternate, entire, flattened or terete leaves with diverse types of Kranz anatomy. Inflorescence spiciform, leafy, formed of few-flowered axillary clusters. Flowers solitary or in clusters of 2-5, hermaphrodite or unisexual (mostly female) with 5 perianth segments that are free or half-way connate and which develop wing-like, spiny or tuberculate outgrowths at the fruiting stage or rarely lack outgrowths. Style very short with 2-3 filiform stigmas. Fruit round or ovoid, compressed with smooth pericarp ± tightly adjoining the seed coat; seeds with horizontal horseshoe-shaped embryo; perisperm abundant.

Note.

The genera that are now included in Bassia are cited in Kadereit and Freitag (2011).

~20 species in Eurasia and North Africa.