Flora of North America species comparison

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Bassia

bassia, smotherweed
Habit Herbs, annual, ± densely pubescent.
Stems

erect, semierect, ascending, or prostrate, branched or simple, not jointed, not armed, not fleshy.
Leaves

alternate, sessile (or sometimes narrowed to pseudopetiole);

blade linear, lanceolate, or lanceolate-elliptic, flat or semiterete (semicylindric in transverse section; ± fleshy), base cuneate, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute.
Inflorescences

terminal spikes, flowers [1–]2–3 in axils.
Flowers

bisexual, sessile, ebracteolate;

perianth segments 5, ± hirsute or pubescent, rarely glabrous, at maturity with spiniform, hooked, or conic appendages;

stamens 5;

styles and stigmas 2(–3).
Seeds

horizontal, lenticular;

seed coat brownish, smooth;

embryo annular;

perisperm copious.
Fruiting

structures: fruiting bracts absent;

achenes ovate-compressed;

pericarp free, membranous.
x

= 9.

Bassia
Distribution
from USDA
Asia; Europe; Africa [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 10 (2 in the flora).

Bassia occurs primarily in steppe and desert zones. A. J. Scott (1978) circumscribed Bassia in a very broad sense, including Kochia and some other genera. Only one section of Kochia is somewhat transitional towards Bassia (see comments in the treatment of Kochia). The present treatment follows the traditional concepts of Bassia and Kochia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaf blades flat, lanceolate-elliptic, lanceolate, or linear; all perianth segments at maturity with thin, hooked spine adaxially; inflorescence axis ± straight
B. hyssopifolia
1. Leaf blades semiterete, linear or filiform; (2-)3(-4) perianth segments at maturity with conic nonhooked appendages adaxially, other segments ± unappendaged; inflorescence axis flex- uous
B. hirsuta
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 309. Author: Sergei L. Mosyakin.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae
Subordinate taxa
B. hirsuta, B. hyssopifolia
Name authority Allioni: Mélanges Philos. Math. Soc. Roy. Turin 3: 177. (1766)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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