Corrigenda to “Taxonomic revision of Chenopodiaceae in Nepal” [Phytotaxa 191: 10–44. 2014

Abstract

The first treatment of the family Chenopodiaceae for the flora of Nepal (Central and Eastern Himalaya) has been recently published (Sukhorukov & Kushunina 2014). However, after a detailed investigation of original material concerning Chenopodium pallidum Moquin-Tandon (1840: 30), which is a part of Jacquemont’s collection from India (Herbarium P), we can state that all these specimens indeed belong to Atriplex Linnaeus (1753: 1052). The morphological differences between Atriplex and Chenopodium Linnaeus (1753: 218) are clear in mature plants only, whereas the plants in the type material were gathered in vegetative or early blooming stage (with flower buds only). This explains why the specimens have remained misidentified for such a long time. The characters which support our statement are: (1) Kranz leaf anatomy, which is typical of many Atriplex species (Sukhorukov 2006) placed into the large ‘C4-clade’ (Kadereit et al. 2010), but never observed in Chenopodium, (2) unisexual flowers (only male flower buds were found, because female flowers are absent at early blooming stage) which of all Chenopodieae in its current circumscription are present only in Atriplex (Sukhorukov & Zhang 2013). The “Eastern India” (Fr.: “Indes Orientales” after Jacquemont, 1834), where the plants were collected, applies to the territories of present-day West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan (northern part), Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab (India, Pakistan), and bordering parts of Xizang (China). Only some Atriplex species with Kranz leaf anatomy occur in this region (Zhu et al. 2003, Klimeš & Dickoré 2005, Sukhorukov 2006), such as: A. centralasiatica Iljin (1936: 124), A. pamirica Iljin (1936: 124), and A. schugnanica Iljin (1936: 123). However, the plants known as A. schugnanica are the best match to the Jacquemont’s specimens due to aphyllous or bracteose (not leafy) inflorescence. According to Art. 11 of ICN (McNeill et al. 2012), the name Chenopodium pallidum appears to be an older name at specific rank for Atriplex schugnanica Iljin (1936: 123), and thus a new combination is proposed in the present paper. Besides, new Chenopodium species, previously named Chenopodium pallidum, is described from Nepal.