The Corispermoideae are a subfamily of the Amaranthaceae, formerly in family Chenopodiaceae.
Description
The species of the subfamily Corispermoideae are all annual plants. Leaves are mostly alternate, sessile or petiole-like attenuate, laminate, scleromorphic. Typical are branched (dendritic) trichomes (except in Anthochlamys) on young plant parts.
The fruits possess supporting tissue consisting of macrosclereids. The seeds have a vertical embryo and copious perisperm.[1]
Distribution
The subfamily Corispermoideae is distributed in Asia, Europe and North America.[2]
Photosynthesis pathway
All species studied show non-Kranz corispermoid leaf anatomy and C3 photosynthesis.[2]
Taxonomy
The tribe Corispermeae was published in 1840 by Alfred Moquin-Tandon (in Chenopodearum Monographica Enumeratio, Loss, Paris, S. 182). Oskar Eberhard Ulbrich raised it to subfamily level named Corispermoideae in 1934 (in Chenopodiaceae, S. 379–584 in Adolf Engler & Karl Anton Eugen Prantl (Edt.): Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, Band 16 c, Engelmann, Leipzig).
Molecular data support the monophyly of the subfamily.[2]
Agriophyllum M.Bieb., with 6 species in Asian regions with arid climate
Anthochlamys Fenzl., with 2 species in Asian regions with arid climate
Corispermum L., with at least 65 species in extratropical regions of Eurasia and North America[3]
References
^Alexander P. Sukhorukov: Fruit anatomy and its taxonomic significance in Corispermum (Corispermoideae, Chenopodiaceae). – Willdenowia 37, 2007, ISSN0511-9618, p.63-87, doi:10.3372/wi.37.37103, (pdf)
^ abcGudrun Kadereit, Thomas Borsch, K. Weising, and Helmut Freitag: Phylogeny of Amaranthaceae and Chenopodiaceae and the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. - Int. J. Plant Sci. 164(6): p.959–986, 2003.
^Juan Juan Xue & Ming Li Zhang: Monophyly and infrageneric variation of Corispermum L. (Chenopodiaceae), evidence from sequence data psbB-psbH, rbcL and ITS, In: Journal of Arid Land, Volume 3, Issue 4, 2011, p. 240−253. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1227.2011.00240Fulltext-PDF.