Africa and Arabia encompass a much greater species diversity in the <i>Achyranthesaspera</i> aggregate (Amaranthaceae, achyranthoid clade): Evidence from morphological and chorological data.

ABSTRACT: Achyranthes in its traditional sense (excluding Achyropsis that phylogenetically falls into Achyranthes) has been considered to contain a restricted (three to four) number of species in Africa and one or two species in the Arabian Peninsula. The morphology of the type species of the genus, A.aspera, has been treated as highly polymorphic, with several varieties recognised by various authors. Not surprisingly, a recent extended phylogeny revealed a non-monophyly of A.aspera. We present a deeper insight into morphological characters of the A.aspera aggregate together with taxonomic, nomenclatural, ecological, and chorological data based on field investigations and herbarium studies. Instead of one polymorphic species, we accept A.aspera s.str.

SUBMITTER: Sukhorukov AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11681337 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature