Plants of Central Asia Volume 8b & Tay or Francis Taylor & F anc·s Group http://taylorandfrancis.com Plants of Central Asia Plant Collections from China and Mongolia Volume 8b Legumes Genus: Oxytropis V.I. Grubov Science Publishers, Inc. Enfield (NH), USA Plymouth, UK ACADEMIA SCIENTIARUM URSS INSTITUTUM BOTANICUMnomine V.L. KOMAROVII PLANTA E ASIAE CENTRALIS (secus materies Instituti botanici nomine V.L. Komarovii) Fasciculus 8b OXYTROPIS DC. Confecit: V.I. Grubov SCIENCE PUBLISHERS, INc. Post Office Box 699 Enfield, New Hampshire 03748 United States of America Internet site:http://www.scipub.net ISBN 13: 978-1-57808-120-2 (hbk) (Volume Sb) ISBN 13: 978-1-57808-062-5 (Set) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rasteniia TSentral'nol Azii. English Plants of Central Asia: plant collections from China and Mongolia /[editor-in-chief. V.I. Grubov]. p. cm. Research based on the collections of the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute. Includes bibliographical references. Contents: V.8b. Legumes. Genus: Oxytropis ISBN l-57808-120-3(v.8b) 1. Botany-Asia, Central. I. Grubov, V.I. II. Botanicheskil institut im. V.L. Komarova. III. Title. QK374, R23613 2002 581.958-dc21 99-36729 CIP © 2003 Copyright reserved Translation of: Rasteniya Central'nov Asii, vol. 8b, 1989; JPCPH Press, Mir i Sem'ya Published by Science Publishers, Inc., USA ANNOTATION This volume, 8b, of the illustrated lists of vascular plants of Central Asia (within the People's Republics of China and Mongolia) is entirely devoted to the treatment of crazyweeds (genus Oxytropis), one of the two largest in the family Leguminosae (153 species). A key to the species precedes their listing. The preparation of camera ready copy of the Russian edition was spon­ sored by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant 93-04-20637). Russian edition printed with the support from St.-Petersburg State Chemical-Pharmaceutical Academy. V.I. Grubov Editor-in-Chief Reviewers T.V. Egorova and N.N. Tzvelev St.-Petersburg 1998 & Tay or Francis Taylor & F anc·s Group http://taylorandfrancis.com PREFACE This volume is exclusively devoted to one of the largest genera of Leguminosae and the largest in the Central Asian flora—genus Oxytropis DC. Within the territory covered by the present series, the genus is repre­ sented by 153 species, out of the 175 species in Central Asia as a whole, (22 species are found only in the Central Asian part of the former USSR) i.e., more than one-half of all known species of the genus. This genus is extremely diverse and rich in endemics: of the 153 species covered in this book, 62 are endemic to the region and 78, or 44.3% of the total number of species, endemic to the Central Asian territory. This signifies that Central Asia, along with Fore Asia, is the most important centre of the speciation of genus Oxytropis. It includes all the 6 subgenera and most of the sec­ tions, i.e., 16. In terms of the number of species, subgenus Eumorpha (Bge.) Abdus. (= Euoxytropis Bge.) with 91 species and subgenus Oxytropis (= Phacoxytropis Bge.) with 51 species occupy the prominent position while the largest sections are Baicalia (24 species), Xerobia (20) and Orobia (18) in the former subgenus and Ianthina (21) and Mesogaea (18) in the latter. The largest number of species, including endemics, is concentrated in the mountain systems of Mongolian Altay, Tien Shan, Nanshan and Himalayas. Further, mesophylic alpine-meadow species predominate in subgenus Oxytropis: in section Oxytropis, these are mainly Himalayan- Tibetan (O. biflora, O. glacialis, O. proboscidea, O. sericopetala, O. tatarica) or even Tibetan-Tien Shan species (O. globiflora, O. pauciflora, O. platysema) and in section Ianthina, the prominent species are Tien Shan (O. chantengriensis, O. kumbelica, O. larionovii, O. penduliflora, O. rupifraga), Ti- betan-Himalayan-Tien Shan (O. densa, O. lutchensis), Pamiro-Alay-Tien Shan (O. melanotricha, O. merkensis) and Altay species (O. krylovii, O. ladyginii, O. saposhnikovii). The picture is similar in section Mesogaea but it contains as well species with a wide distribution range—Eurasian (O. lapponica, O. pilosa), north-Asian (O. glabra) and even Asian-North Ameri­ can (O. deflexa). The series of north Tibetan-western Chinese species (O. gueldenstaedtioides, O. kansuensis, O. melanocalyx, O. ochrocephala) is of par­ ticular interest in this context. Apart from well-recognised floristic con­ tacts between Altay, Junggar Ala Tau and Tien Shan, Tien Shan and Pamir, Tien Shan and Himalayas which confirm the geographic spread of genus Oxytropis, Tien Shan-Nanshan contacts also are detected here. Flo­ ristic relation among mountain systems of West China through Nanshan viii with Eastern and Northern Tien Shan are at once clearly visible in section Mesogaea. Thus, O. kansuensis bears close affinity with Tien Shan O. meinshausenii and with western Chinese O. gueldenstaedtioides and O. ochrocephala to form a natural series. O. hirsutiuscula has Pamir-eastern Tien Shan-Nanshan as its distribution range. These relations demonstrate the close genetic affinity of O. imbricata (Nanshan) and O. merkensis (Tien Shan) of section lanthina. In subgenus Eumorpha, sections Orobia, Ortholoma and Xerobia are rep­ resented mainly by montane-steppe species with distribution ranges in Altay, Junggar-Tarbagatai, Tien Shan and Mongolia. Endemic Mongolian 4 species are particularly conspicuous in section Xerobia (O. diversifolia, O. junatovii, O. klementzii, O. micrantha, O. monophylla, O. potaninii, O. rhizantha). The largest section of this subgenus, Baicalia, is most character­ istic of Mongolia. It comprises predominantly montane-steppe and steppe Siberian-Mongolian species (O. lanata, O. lanuginosa, O. lasiopoda, O. myriophylla, O. oxyphylla, O. prostrata, O. selengensis, O. viridiflava) as well as strictly regional Mongolian endemics (O. mongolica, O. pavlovii, O. pumila, O. ramosissima, O. sutaica). This section, however, also contains species with a more extensive distribution range: northern China- Mongolia (O. bicolor, O. ochrantha), Kazakhstan (O. rhinchopysa), Altay- Saur-Mongolia (O. oligantha), eastern Tien Shan-Mongolian Altay (O. heterophylla), Junggar-Tien Shan (O. chionobia) and narrow endemics east­ ern Tien Shan O. przewalskii, Junggar-Tarbagatai O.fetissovii and Saur O. saurica. Species of oligotypic section Polyadena inhabit most severe regions: al­ pine deserts and desert steppes. These are Tibetan O. chiliophylla and O. falcata and Mongolian O. microphylla and O. trichophysa. Moreover, the distribution ranges of O. falcata and O. microphylla are disjunced: while the former has an isolated enclave in north-western Mongolian Altay, three independent ranges are known for the latter: in Mongolian Altay, Eastern Gobi and southern Dauria. Four other subgenera of Oxytropis are poorly represented. Subgenus Physoxytropis is represented by a single species in Central Asia: endemic Mongolian montane-steppe O. bungei distributed in Mongolian and Gobi Altay and along the southern slope of main Hangay mountain range and monotypic subgenus Triticaria represented by meadow-steppe Manchu­ rian-northern Chinese O. hirta entering Eastern Mongolia. Fore Asian subgenus Ptiloxytropis was unexpectedly represented by endemic desert O. sacciformis that has only recently been detected in East­ ern Gobi. Two other species of the subgenus—O. bella and O. trichosphaera—only enter Pamir in Central Asia from the west. ix Finally, Traganthoxytropis, evidently an artificial subgenus of spiny- shrubby crazyweeds, petrophytes and psammophytes, includes ortuz 0. aciphylla which is conspicuous gregarious. This is a lone coenosis-form- ing Oxytropis and forms small mats or cushions in deserts over large ex­ panses of sandy and sandy-rubbly Gobi plains and mountain slopes. Its range extends form Zaisan lake to Ordos, Qaidam and Qinghai through Junggar and Mongolia. Its derivative, the tiny steppe petrophyte O. kossinskyi, is a narrow endemic species of central Mongolia. Another ex­ tensively distributed species, O. tragacanthoides, is found on cliffs with its range extending from Altay and Sayan to Eastern Tien Shan and northern Tibet. The remaining two species of this subgenus, Mongolian-Altay O. acanthacea and Junggar-Tarbagatai O. hystrix, inhabitants of rocks and rocky slopes, are strict endemics. Crazyweeds have no great economic importance and some are of minor significance as fodder plants (O. aciphylla, O. myriophylla, O. filiformis) while the widely «distributed meadow-solonchak O. glabra is a favourite of domestic animals but is toxic to all types of cattle causing intense poison- ing. Artist S.S. Loseva did the drawings in the Plates for this volume while the distribution ranges were plotted by the author. O.I. Starikova translated the Chinese references and herbarium labels.