{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Akhania daghestanica.jpg |image_caption = ''Akhania daghestanica'' |display_parents = 2 |taxon = Akhania |authority = Sukhor. (2022) |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = *''Akhania canescens'' {{small|(Moq.) Sukhor.}} *''Akhania carpatha'' {{small|(P.H.Davis) Sukhor.}} *''Akhania daghestanica'' {{small|(Bunge) Sukhor.}} |subdivision_ref = <ref name = powo>[https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77306620-1 ''Akhania'' Sukhor.] ''Plants of the World Online''. Retrieved 30 March 2024.</ref> }}
'''''Akhania''''' is a genus of flowering plants in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae. It includes three species native to the eastern Mediterranean and western and central Asia, ranging from Greece through western Asia to the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan.<ref name = powo/>
''Akhania'' includes small shrubs or subshrubs 20 to 100 cm tall. The plants have a bushy habit, with several or numerous stems, small linear or broadly lanceolate leaves which are bright green, glaucous, or grayish and 5–35 mm long by 1–3 mm wide.<ref name = Sukhorukov>Sukhorukov AP, Fedorova AV, Kushunina M, Mavrodiev EV (2022). ''Akhania'', a new genus for ''Salsola daghestanica'', ''Caroxylon canescens'' and ''C. carpathum'' (Salsoloideae, Chenopodiaceae, Amaranthaceae). ''PhytoKeys'' 211: 45-61. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.211.89408</ref>
The genus ''Akhania'' is named after the Iranian botanist Hossein Akhani. Its species were formerly placed in the genera ''Salsola'' or ''Caroxylon''. A genetic and morphological analysis concluded that the three species formed a distinct clade which is sister to ''Caroxylon''.<ref name = Sukhorukov/>
==Species== Three species are accepted:<ref name = powo/><ref name = Sukhorukov/> *''Akhania canescens'' {{small|(Moq.) Sukhor.}} – western and central Asia, from Turkey and Palestine to Afghanistan and Kazakhstan *''Akhania carpatha'' {{small|(P.H.Davis) Sukhor.}} – the Greek Islands of Crete, Karpathos, and the Cyclades *''Akhania daghestanica'' {{small|(Bunge) Sukhor.}} – endemic to Dagestan in the northeastern Caucasus.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from= Q123603998}}
Category:Amaranthaceae genera Category:Flora of the Palearctic realm Category:Amaranthaceae