ARTÍCULO

Maireana brevifolia (Chenopodiaceae), an Australian xenophyte established recently in southeastern Morocco

LÉO GIARDI¹ & ABDELMONAIM HOMRANI BAKALI²

¹ 9 Rte. de Saint-Félix, FR-30140 Anduze, France
² Regional Center of Agricultural Research of Errachidia, National Institute of Agricultural Research, av. Ennasr, PO Box 415 Rabat Principale, MA-10090 Rabat, Morocco

ORCID iD. L. GIARDI: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7195-9524, A. HOMRANI BAKALI: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0719-7267
Author for correspondence: L. Giardi (l.giardi@hotmail.fr)

Editor: N. Ibáñez

ABSTRACT
Maireana brevifolia (chenopodiaceae), an Australian xenophyte established recently in southeastern Morocco.—The presence of the xenophyte plant Maireana brevifolia is reported for the first time in Morocco. The species is native to Australia and is currently colonizing a disturbed saline oasis in Skoura, province of Ouarzazate, though it might likely occur elsewhere in similar habitats. A brief illustrated description and precise geographical Moroccan location of Maireana brevifolia are presented. The voucher specimen is deposited in the National Herbarium (RAB) of Morocco, at the Scientific Institute of Rabat.
KEY WORDS:alien plant; chorology; Morocco; new record; oasis flora; xenophytes.

RESUMEN
Maireana brevifolia (chenopodiaceae), un xenófito australiano establecido recientemente en el sureste de Marruecos.— Se cita por primera vez en Marruecos la presencia del xenófito Maireana brevifolia. Esta especie es nativa de Australia y actualmente está colonizando un oasis salino alterado en Skoura, provincia de Ouarzazate, aunque probablemente pueda encontrarse en otros hábitats similares. Se presenta una breve descripción ilustrada y ubicación geográfica precisa de Maireana brevifolia en Marruecos. Un pliego testigo se ha depositado en el Herbario Nacional de Marruecos (RAB), en el Instituto Científico de Rabat.
PALABRAS CLAVE: corología; Marruecos; nueva cita; oasis flora; planta alóctona; xenófito.

CONTENIDOS

INTRODUCTIONTop

During a successful botanical excursion in December 2022, the first author spotted and collected plant sample that was identified as belonging to a new genus for Morocco, Maireana Moq. (subfam. Chenopodioideae, tribe Sclerolaeneae), which was named to honor the French naturalist Charles Lemaire (1800–1871). This genus is now composed of ca. 59 accepted species, all of them endemic to the Australian continent (POWO 2022POWO [Plants of the World Online]. 2022. Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved January 13, 2023, from https://powo.science.kew.org/).

Maireana is most closely related to Bassia All., and it was previously classified as a member of the genus Kochia Roth. Maireana is distinguished from Bassia by flowers that are usually solitary or paired at the leaf axils, versus solitary flowers or flowers arranged in spicate inflorescences in Bassia. Maireana has a flat to cup-shaped, mostly glabrous perianth, that becomes hardened and winged in fruit, whereas Bassia shows an urn-shaped perianth that produces membranous, scarious wings or a spine-like or tubercle-like appendage per piece in fruit (Wilson, 1975Wilson, P. G. 1975. A taxonomic revision of the genus Maireana (Chenopodiaceae). Nuytsia 2(1): 2–82. https://doi.org/10.58828/nuy00028).

Maireana brevifolia (R. Br.) Paul G. Wilson (Kochia brevifolia R. Br.) is a well-known species of the genus that has been introduced, either intentionally or accidentally, in many countries, including Chile, France, Israel, Mexico, Namibia, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain (Canary Islands) and the United States (California) (Marticorena, 1997Marticorena, C. 1997. La presencia de Maireana brevifolia (R. Br.) Paul G. Wilson (Chenopodiaceae) en Chile continental. Gayana Botanica 54(2): 193–194.; Barrett, 2000Barrett, G. J. 2000. Revegetation of salt-affected land after mining: germination and establishment of halophytes. PhD Thesis, Curtin University of Technology, Perth.; Danin 2000Danin, A. 2000. The inclusion of adventive plants in the second edition of Flora Palaestina. Willdenowia 30: 305–314. https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.30.30209 ; Ilyas et al., 2000Ilyas, M., Mirza, H., Wasiullah, M. & Niaz, M. 2000. Study of yield and yield components of exotic Atriplex and Maireana species in the saline environment of NWFP. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 3(11): 1873–1876. https://doi.org/10.3923/pjbs.2000.1873.1876 ; Reyes-Betancort et al., 2002Reyes-Betancort, J. A., Scholz, S. & González, R. 2002. Maireana brevifolia (R. Br.) P. G. Wilson (Chenopodiaceae), nuevo xenófito para la flora de las Islas Canarias. Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid 59(2): 357–358.; Mucina & Snijman, 2011Mucina, L. & Snijman, D. A. 2011. Maireana brevifolia (Chenopodiaceae: Camphorosmeae), a new naturalized alien plant species in South Africa. Bothalia 41(2): 235–238. https://doi.org/10.4102/abc.v41i2.55 ). In some areas, it has been regarded as an alien invasive species (GBIF, 2023GBIF [Global Biodiversity Information Facility]. 2023. Maireana brevifolia (R. Br.) Paul G. Wilson. Retrieved January 13, 2023, from https://www.gbif.org/species/3756029 ).

Mucina and Snijman (2011Mucina, L. & Snijman, D. A. 2011. Maireana brevifolia (Chenopodiaceae: Camphorosmeae), a new naturalized alien plant species in South Africa. Bothalia 41(2): 235–238. https://doi.org/10.4102/abc.v41i2.55 ) have already predicted a gradient of high vs. low probability of occurrence of M. brevifolia under the given climate-niche scenario, and some regions of Morocco were highlighted with a high probability of occurrence.

This newest addition to Moroccan Chenopodiaceae was botanically identified as Maireana brevifolia and confirmed by Australian botanists. In this paper, we present a brief description, discussion, and illustration of the Maireana brevifolia individuals, found in Morocco.

TAXONOMIC TREATMENTTop

Maireana brevifolia (R. Br.) Paul G. Wilson

Maireana brevifolia, also known as Australian bluebush or cotton bush, is an erect rounded shrub that grows to ca. 1.3 m tall (Fig. 1). Its branches are striate and sparsely woolly (Fig. 2). The leaves are succulent, alternate, obovoid to narrowly fusiform, 2–5 mm long, narrowed into a short petiole, glabrous (Fig. 2). Flowers are bisexual, solitary, ebracteolate, ciliate on perianth lobes, otherwise glabrous. Fruiting perianth up to 9 mm in diameter, glabrous, flat at apex; tube ca. 2 mm diam., thin-walled, hemispherical and weakly 10-ribbed below wings; wings 5, spreading, fan-shaped, papery, dark-veined; perianth lobes domed, spongy, prominent at base of wings; radicular slit not apparent (Wilson, 1975Wilson, P. G. 1975. A taxonomic revision of the genus Maireana (Chenopodiaceae). Nuytsia 2(1): 2–82. https://doi.org/10.58828/nuy00028). Fruits are harvested in Morocco primarily between November and January.

Figure 1. Voucher specimen of Maireana brevifolia from Morocco (RAB 111166). [View full size] [Descargar tamaño completo]

Figure 2. Maireana brevifolia and its habitat: (A), large plant in disturbed oasis habitat; (B), small plant; (C), striate stem; (D), stem indumentum; (E), basal leaves; (F), upper leaves with fruiting perianth; (G), bisexual flowers; (H), embryo. [View full size] [Descargar tamaño completo]

Specimens examined. Morocco, south-east of Morocco: Ouled Mnia, Skoura, Ouarzazate province, 31º 04’ 16.986” N, 6º 34’ 52.104” W, 1220 m, 20.XII.2022, A. Homrani Bakali & L. Giardi (RAB 111166) (Fig. 1).

Distribution in Morocco. Maireana brevifolia has been found well established on the disturbed saline oasis of Skoura (Fig. 3), occurring along the road, mixed with alfalfa crops, under olive trees, etc. Maireana brevifolia might have been unintentionally introduced to Morocco from Australia as a result of seed admixtures with Atriplex nummularia Lindl. or Medicago sativa L. Its presence is highly probable in similar oases between Dadès to Tafilalet. Therefore, new inspection efforts are required in ecologically similar Moroccan oases to circumscribe the distribution of the species and better evaluate its local status and distribution.

Figure 3. Distribution map of Maireana brevifolia in NW Africa and the Canary Islands. The green square is the new occurrence in Morocco, the other purple squares are taken from GBIF.org (13 January 2023; GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ms9wjj). [View full size] [Descargar tamaño completo]

CONCLUSIONSTop

The particular orography and vastness of the territory of Morocco confer country-specific soils and climatic conditions that are very diversified and favorable for the development of many remarkable species. Consequently, intensive field research in Morocco is of paramount importance for new findings that will improve our knowledge on and will complete the floristic catalogue of this remarkable African area.

CONCLUSIONSTop

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSTop

We give special thanks to Ellura Sanctuary, David Spencer Muirhead from Australia, and Nick Helme from South Africa, the first botanists to confirm our identification on iNaturalist.