''Kalidium'' is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s in the plant family

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus '' Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making i ...

. The species are shrubby

halophyte A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores. Th ...

s distributed in

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...

Southwest Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...

to China.

Description

The species of ''Kalidium'' grow as

subshrub A subshrub ( Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their ...

s or low shrubs. The stems are much branched and glabrous. Older stems are not jointed, younger stems may appear jointed or not. The alternate leaves are fleshy, glabrous, stem-clasping and decurrent, nearly orbicular to semiterete, their free blades 0.5–12 mm long. The pedunculate

inflorescences An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed on ...

are spike-like, with alternate scale-like free bracts. In the axil of each bract, there are one to three flowers, partially fused to each other, to the bract and to the inflorescence axis, appearing sunken into fleshy axis. The flowers are bisexual. The 4-5-lobed

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ca ...

consists of four to five connate

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s. There are two

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s and an ovoid ovary with two stigmas. In fruiting phase, the perianth becomes thick and spongy and encloses the fruit. Towards the apex, the perianth is widened, flattened, and furnished with a wing-like margin. The fruit wall (pericarp) is membranous. The vertical seed is disc-shaped with tuberculate to papillose surface. It contains a semi-annular embryo and copious perisperm (feeding tissue).

Distribution and habitat

The species of ''Kalidium'' are distributed from

and

to China. The plants are

s and grow in saline

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...

s, on

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a ...

soils, at margins of

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...

s, and at the shores of

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

Systematics

The genus ''Kalidium'' was first published in 1849 by

Alfred Moquin-Tandon Christian Horace Benedict Alfred Moquin-Tandon (7 May 1804 – 15 April 1863) was a French naturalist and doctor. Moquin-Tandon was professor of zoology at Marseille from 1829 until 1833, when he was appointed professor of botany and director of ...

. ''Kalidium foliatum'' was chosen as

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

of the genus. A

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...

is ''Kalidiopsis'' Aellen. The genus comprises six species: * '' Kalidium caspicum'' (L.) Ung.-Sternb. - widely distributed from

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

and eastern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, and

to China (northern

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

). * '' Kalidium cuspidatum'' (Ung.-Sternb.) Grubov - occurring in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 millio ...

and China ( Gansu,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for ...

Ningxia Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in ...

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ning ...

). * ''

Kalidium foliatum ''Kalidium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the plant family Amaranthaceae. The species are shrubby halophytes distributed in Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia and Central Asia to China. Description The species of ''Kalidium'' grow as ...

'' (Pall.) Moq. - widely distributed from Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, Central Asia,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

(southern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

), Mongolia, to China (northern Gansu, northern Hebei,

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang). * ''

Kalidium gracile ''Kalidium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the plant family Amaranthaceae. The species are shrubby halophytes distributed in Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia and Central Asia to China. Description The species of ''Kalidium'' grow as sub ...

'' Fenzl - occurring in Mongolia and China (Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang). * ''

Kalidium schrenkianum ''Kalidium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the plant family Amaranthaceae. The species are shrubby halophytes distributed in Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia and Central Asia to China. Description The species of ''Kalidium'' grow as ...

'' Bunge ex Ung.-Sternb. - occurring in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

and China (Xinjiang). * ''

Kalidium wagenitzii ''Kalidium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the plant family Amaranthaceae. The species are shrubby halophytes distributed in Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia and Central Asia to China. Description The species of ''Kalidium'' grow as ...

'' (Aellen) Freitag & G.Kadereit (Syn.: ''Kalidiopsis wagenitzii'' Aellen) -

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

in Turkey (

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...

, Tuz Gölü area). This species has sometimes been included in ''Kalidium foliatum''.

References

Gudrun Kadereit, Ladislav Mucina & Helmut Freitag: ''Phylogeny of Salicornioideae (Chenopodiaceae): diversification, biogeography, and evolutionary trends in leaf and flower morphology'', In: ''Taxon'', Volume 55 (3), 2006, p. 623-624, 631-632. Alfred Moquin-Tandon: ''Salsolaceae''. in: De Candolle (Hrsg.): ''Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' 13(2). Masson, Paris, 1849, p. 146.
first publication scanned at BHL
Mikko Piirainen 2009
''Kalidium.'' In: P. Uotila, (ed.): ''Chenopodiaceae.'' In: ''Euro+Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.''
/ref> Gelin Zhu, Sergei L. Mosyakin, Steven E. Clemants
''Kalidium.''
In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (eds.): ''Flora of China''. Volume 5: ''Ulmaceae through Basellaceae''. Science Press/Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing/St. Louis 2003, , p. 355.

External links

* *
Photos of ''Kalidium''
at FloraGREIF, the Virtual Guide to the Flora of Mongolia. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2347945 Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae genera