Volkensinia

Volkensinia
The flower of Volkensinia or Dasysphaera prostrata, an arid-adapted shrub that grows on saline or alkaline soils in the Lake Turkana region of northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Subfamily: Amaranthoideae
Genus: Volkensinia
Schinz, 1912
Species:
V. prostrata
Binomial name
Volkensinia prostrata
(Volkens ex Gilg) Schinz
Synonyms[1]
  • Dasysphaera prostrata (Volkens ex Gilg) Cavaco
  • Kentrosphaera prostrata Volkens ex Gilg
  • Marcellia leptacantha Peter
  • Marcellia prostrata (Volkens ex Gilg) C.B.Clarke
  • Volkensinia grandiflora Suess.

Volkensinia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Amaranthaceae. It only contains one known species; Volkensinia prostrata.[2] It is in the subfamily Amaranthoideae.

Its native range is north eastern and eastern Tropical Africa, it is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Tanzania.[1][2]

The genus name of Volkensinia is in honour of Georg Volkens (1855–1917), a German botanist born in Berlin.[3] The Latin specific epithet of prostrata means on the ground as derived from prostrate.[4] Both the genus and the sole species were first described and published in Vierteljahrsschr. Naturf. Ges. Zürich Vol.57 on page 535 in 1912.[1][2]

The species has been variably assigned either to the genus Dasysphaera or to Volkensinia.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Volkensinia prostrata (Volkens ex Gilg) Schinz". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Volkensinia Schinz | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  3. ^ Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. S2CID 187926901. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  4. ^ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 978-1845337315.
  5. ^ Townsend, C.C., 1979. The Genera Dasysphaera and Volkensinia: Notes on Amaranthaceae: IV. Kew Bulletin, pp.417-419.
  6. ^ Ghazanfar, S.A., Beentje, H.J. (2010). Sabkha Regions of Tropical East Africa. In: Öztürk, M., Böer, B., Barth, HJ., Clüsener-Godt, M., Khan, M., Breckle, SW. (eds) Sabkha Ecosystems. Tasks for Vegetation Science, vol 46. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9673-9_1