Camphorosma is a small genus of flowering plants in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae, within the order Caryophyllales. It comprises annual herbs and subshrubs found across a broad Old World range spanning northern Africa, southern and eastern Europe, Crimea, Russia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, the Altai, western Siberia, Xinjiang in China, and Mongolia — arid and steppe habitats implied by this distribution, though no source describes ecology in detail.
The genus was described by Linnaeus and published in his Species Plantarum (1753). Botanically it is distinguished from closely related genera such as Bassia by several technical features: a flattened perianth with four lobes, inflorescences bearing multicellular glandular hairs, a distinctive C4 leaf anatomy known as the "Camphorosma type," and a chromosome count of 2n = 12.
The GBIF backbone recognizes a handful of accepted species within the genus, including Camphorosma annua, Camphorosma monspeliaca, and Camphorosma songarica (with C. songorica as an additional accepted name and a couple of names treated as doubtful synonyms). Camphorosma monspeliaca is the species currently tracked in this database.
Distribution
Camphorosma species occur across a wide Old World range: northern Africa, southern and eastern Europe, Crimea, Russia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, the Altai, western Siberia, Xinjiang in China, and Mongolia.
Taxonomy Notes
The genus was published by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753) and is placed in family Amaranthaceae, order Caryophyllales. It is distinguished from the closely related genus Bassia by a flattened, four-lobed perianth, multicellular glandular hairs on the inflorescence, a distinct C4 leaf-anatomy type (the "Camphorosma type"), and a chromosome count of 2n = 12.
