Salsola monoptera Bunge, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Petersbourg 25: 364 (1879)

Sukhorukov, Alexander P., Liu, Pei-Liang & Kushunina, Maria, 2019, Taxonomic revision of Chenopodiaceae in Himalaya and Tibet, PhytoKeys 116, pp. 1-141 : 117-118

6. Salsola monoptera Bunge, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Petersbourg 25: 364 (1879)

Salsola monoptera Bunge, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg 25: 364 (1879). Lectotype (Sukhorukov, designated here): Mongolia chinensis in itineris ad Chinam, [year] 1840 [Tatarinow s.n.] (LE!). Note. Bunge (1879) did not state a herbarium for the type specimen. Rilke (1999) and Grubov (2000) indicated that the holotype is in LE, but the Bunge herbarium is also deposited in some other herbaria, especially in G and P. Choosing a lectotype, we follow the suggestion of McNeill (2014) since no collection number and herbarium are indicated in the protologue.

≡ Kali monoptera (Bunge) Lomon., Konsp. Fl. Aziatsk. Rossii: 101 (2012).

Description.

Annuals, very branched from the base. Stems prostrate or ascending, green, often with reddish stripes, papillate or almost glabrous. Leaves very densely arranged, linear, 10.0-25.0 × 0.4-1.0 mm, leaf mucro ~1.0 mm long. Flowers in axillary clusters and arranged in the main inflorescence. Flower clusters (located below the main inflorescence) consist of one flower supported by a bract and two bracteoles, sometimes additional bracts are present in the clusters; bracts and bracteoles half fused or less; perianth segments membranous, r-shaped with their tips appressed to each other, not hardened, not forming a conus, with pinkish or white, small or hardly noticeable wing-like tubercles in the flexure, one segment (closest to the bract) with small tuberculate (up to 1.0 mm) projection; styles with stigmas ca. 1.0 mm long; fruits 1.0-1.2 mm, depressed roundish to ovoid. Flowers in the main inflorescence with a free bract and two bracteoles (slightly shorter than bract), hermaphrodite; perianth segments free, membranous, r-shaped, horizontally appressed and not forming a conus above the flexure; wing-like appendages vertically located and clearly unequal (the most prominent, entire to lobate <1.5 mm long, wing develops on the segment closest to the bract (rarely in other positions), other segments have smaller entire tubercles up to 1 mm or no projections at all); the whole diaspore with the perianth wings 1.5-2.3 mm across; anthers 0.3-0.4 mm long; styles with stigmas ~1.0 mm; fruit 1.1-1.4 mm, lenticular. Seeds with horizontally or obliquely orientated embryo.

Habitat.

Rocky places and sands at an altitude of 3500-4800 m.

Phenology.

Flowering: July-September; fruiting: August-October.

Distribution.

See Fig. 48 .

Specimens examined.

CHINA: Xizang: Ngari Prefecture: Rutog County, 4300 m a.s.l., 3 Sep 1990, Y. Fei et al. 702 (KUN0275168); Manasarovar Lake (Mapam Yumtso), Langa Tso (Lake), 30°30'N, 81°17'E, 4680 m a.s.l., 29 Aug 1993, G. & S. Miehe 9598/11 (herb. Miehe); Nagqu Prefecture: Shuanghu County, 4800 m a.s.l., 26 Aug 1976, Qinghai-Tibet Team Vegetation Group 12348 (PE00515977); Upper Salween basin, Nagqu–Damxung, 21 km S of Nagqu, 31°22'N, 91°56'E, 4570 m a.s.l., 4 Sep 1989, B. Dickoré 4681 (MSB157875, MSB161896); Central Plateau, Siling Tso (Lake), Nagqu, 31°24'N, 90°1'E, 4700 m a.s.l., 13 Aug 1993, G. & S. Miehe 9474/07 (MSB147391); S of Xiketang Lake, 31°57'N, 90°46'E, 4680 m a.s.l., 18 Aug 2005, Nölling & Hanspach NX05-123-04 (herb. Miehe); Xigazê Prefecture: [Yadong County] nr Phari, 14500 ft a.s.l., Sep 1938, B.J. Gould 1625 (K);

INDIA (new record for the country): Ladakh, Whisky Nallah, 30 Aug 1970, U.C. Bhattacharyya 40939 (BSD).

General distribution.

Central Asia and South Siberia. The species was probably first collected in Xizang in the 1980 s– 1990s ( Rilke 1999), but it is not mentioned in Zhu et al. (2003). The records cited below expand the distribution of S. monoptera to the south (compare to Rilke 1999).

Figures

Figure 48. Distribution map of Salsola tragus (circles), S. austrotibetica (stars) and S. monoptera (triangles).