Zosima (plant)
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| Zosima | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Zosima absinthifolia | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Apiales |
| Family: | Apiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Apioideae |
| Tribe: | Tordylieae |
| Subtribe: | Tordyliinae |
| Genus: | Zosima Hoffm. |
| Synonyms | |
|
Pichleria Stapf & Wettst. | |
Zosima is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Apiaceae.[1]
Its native range stretches from Afghanistan, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Sinai, Syria and Turkey, (in western Asia); Saudi Arabia, to North Caucasus and Transcaucasus, (in the Caucasus Mountains); Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, (in Central Asia); Xinjiang (in China) and Pakistan (in tropical Asia).[1]
They are herbaceous plants, biennial or monocarpic perennials.[2] They have thick,[3] yellow-red roots that are fusiform (rod-shaped). The stem is usually solitary, densely pubescent (has soft downy hairs), angled, corymbose-branched (branches arising at different points but reaching about the same height). The base of the stem is clothed in fibrous remnant sheaths. It has 1-2 leaves that are pinnatisect.[2] The upper leaves are narrowly elliptic.[3] The flower or inflorescence is compound umbels.[2] They have 10-25 rays.[3] The bracts and bracteoles are present,[2] and linear to lanceolate (in shape).[3] The flowers are hermaphrodite with calyx teeth minute. The petals are whitish,[3] obcordate (broad and notched at the tip), with a narrow apex, inflexed and the outer petals are slightly enlarged (radiant). The fruit (or seed capsule) is broadly ovate, strongly dorsally compressed, densely minute-pubescent. The dorsal ribs are filiform (thread-like) with the marginal ribs broadly thin-winged. The distal parts are inflated and corky. The outer mesocarp layer is parenchymatous (a versatile ground tissue composed of living primary cells) and the inner layer is sclerified (thick, lignified, cell wall that is shorter than a fiber cell). The vittae (resin canals) are large, 1 in each furrow, 2 on commissure. The seed face is plane with a carpophore 2-parted to base.[2]
The plants are close in form to Heracleum but the fruit differ.[3]
The plants can be affected by parasites such as Erysiphe heraclei (leaf), Acmaeoderella gibbosula and Acmaeoderella villosula (stem) and also Bruchophagus gibbus (affects the fruit).[4]
Known species
There are 4 accepted species, by Plants of the World Online and others,[2] including Y. Menemen and S.L. Jury;[5]
- Zosima absinthiifolia (Vent.) Link
- Zosima gilliana Rech.f. & Riedl
- Zosima korovinii Pimenov
- Zosima radians Boiss. & Hohen.