Language: English
The Chenopodiaceae are a group of plants living in stony desert, sand dune and semi-desert environments, and in sandy, saline and alkaline areas. At present the family has expanded into a large group of more than 120 genera and ca. 1500 species. The authors of Genera and a new Evolutionary System of World Chenopodiaceae, in accordance with principles of evolutionism formulated over a long period of observation, have studied every characteristic and property from the point of view of morphology, such as trichome type, stem and leaf shape and anatomical structures, presence or absence of bracts and braclets, floral sex, perianth, anther appendage, flora disc, rudimental stamens, fruit type, form of seed and perisperm, pattern of embryo and radical orientation, morphology of pollen grains, etc. On this basis, integrating present distribution patterns, the authors have identified, merged and combined some duplicate genera and species, and in accordance with relationships, have arranged a new systematic organization for the family on morphological terms, containing 7 subfamilies, 17 tribes and ca. 120 genera for the family.