# Chloropyron

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***Chloropyron*** is a genus of plants in the botanical [family](/source/Family_(taxonomy)) [Orobanchaceae](/source/Orobanchaceae). The plants of this group were formerly classified in the [subgenus](/source/Subgenus) *Hemistegia* of the genus *[Cordylanthus](/source/Cordylanthus)*, but were elevated to genus level by David C. Tank, John Mark Egger and Richard G. Olmstead in 2009 after molecular [phylogenetic](/source/Phylogenetic) work.[2]

## Taxonomy

The genus *Chloropyron* was first [described](/source/Species_description) by the German-American [polymath](/source/Polymath) [Hans Hermann Behr](/source/Hans_Hermann_Behr), an immigrant to [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco), in 1855.[1] Behr was largely ignored, and the known species were classified in the genus *[Cordylanthus](/source/Cordylanthus)*, but the species now placed in the modern genus *Chloropyron* were classified in an unranked infrageneric group by [Asa Gray](/source/Asa_Gray) in 1867, which he called *Hemistegia*.[3]

The first species to be described was *[Chloropyron maritimum](/source/Chloropyron_maritimum)*. [Thomas Nuttall](/source/Thomas_Nuttall) first described it in the genus *Cordylanthus*, but this was only in an unpublished manuscript, and was thus not a valid taxonomic name. [George Bentham](/source/George_Bentham), however, revived the name in his 1846 entry on these plants in [Augustin Pyramus de Candolle](/source/Augustin_Pyramus_de_Candolle)'s *[Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis](/source/Prodromus_Systematis_Naturalis_Regni_Vegetabilis)*.[4][5]

In three different 1891 publications three different botanical [taxonomists](/source/Taxonomist), the American [Edward Lee Greene](/source/Edward_Lee_Greene), the Austrian [Richard Wettstein](/source/Richard_Wettstein) and the German [Otto Kuntze](/source/Otto_Kuntze), had all pointed out that Bentham's 1836 name, *Adenostegia*, had [priority](/source/Principle_of_Priority), and all of the *Cordylanthus* species were transferred to that name.[5][6][7]

Wettstein, following Gray's *Flora of North America*, continued to recognise Gray's *Hemistegia* group, ranking the group at the level of [section](/source/Section_(taxonomy)). He recognised 3 species of *Adenostegia*, and split these three into two unranked subgroups, with [*A. kingii*](/source/Cordylanthus_kingii) and *A. maritima* in group **A**, having four developed [stamens](/source/Stamen) in their flowers, and [*A. mollis*](/source/Chloropyron_molle) as the single species in group **B**, having only two developed stamens.[6]

During the first meeting of the new [International Botanical Congress](/source/International_Botanical_Congress) in Vienna in 1905, the [International Code of Botanical Nomenclature](/source/International_Code_of_Botanical_Nomenclature) (ICBN) was promulgated, in which it was decided that certain names, despite being incorrect according to the [principle of priority](/source/Principle_of_priority), should be [conserved](/source/Nom._cons.) in order to preserve taxonomic stability. It was thus decided that although *Cordylanthus* was a [junior synonym](/source/Synonym_(taxonomy)) of *Adenostegia*, this name should be conserved.[8][9][10][11]

In 1911 the Californian botanist [Willis Linn Jepson](/source/Willis_Linn_Jepson) raised the section *Hemistegia* up to the level of [subgenus](/source/Subgenus).[12]

Although the ICBN was accepted throughout the world, an exception was in the United States where a number of botanists rejected the new rules, and as such, when a new species in the group was added by the Californian botanist [Roxana Stinchfield Ferris](/source/Roxana_Stinchfield_Ferris) in her 1918 [monograph](/source/Monograph) on the genus, she ignored the modern rules of nomenclature and named her new species [*Adenostegia palmata*](/source/Chloropyron_palmatum).[5][11] This was promptly rectified by the Harvard University botanist [James Francis Macbride](/source/James_Francis_Macbride) the following year.[11] In any case, Ferris also ignored Jepson's classification of *Hemistegia* as a subgenus, maintaining Wettstein's system of sections, moved *Adenostegia kingii* out of the group, and, oddly considering her upholding of Bentham's priority, renames the subgenus *Hemistegia* to *Chloropyron*. She recognised four species in this section, the earlier-mentioned *Adenostegia palmata*, the two long-standing species *A. maritima* and *A. mollis*, and also moved Gray's *Cordylanthus canescens* to the section.[5]

In 1951 [Francis W. Pennell](/source/Francis_W._Pennell) recognised six species in the group. The botanist [Herbert Louis Mason](/source/Herbert_Louis_Mason) reduced this to three species in his 1957 book *A Flora of the Marshes of California*. In 1950 *[Chloropyron tecopense](/source/Chloropyron_tecopense)* was described (as *Cordylanthus tecopensis*) by [Philip Alexander Munz](/source/Philip_Alexander_Munz) and [John Christian Roos](/source/John_Christian_Roos). In 1973 the botanists [Tsan-iang Chuang](/source/Tsan-iang_Chuang) and [Lawrence R. Heckard](/source/Lawrence_R._Heckard), excluding this new species, also recognised three species from Pennell's six, but used a completely different [circumscription](/source/Circumscription_(taxonomy)), so that Mason's taxa are not clearly synonymous with their species.[3]

## Description

These are small [annual](/source/Annual_plant) [herbaceous plants](/source/Herbaceous_plant) coloured green or greenish-grey, often tinged in red or purple due to [anthocyanins](/source/Anthocyanin). The tallest reach 60 cm in height.[3]

## Distribution

This genus occurs in the western United States ([California](/source/California), [Nevada](/source/Nevada), [Oregon](/source/Oregon), [Utah](/source/Utah)), as well as [Baja California](/source/Baja_California) in Mexico.[13]

## Ecology

The species are native to [salt flats](/source/Salt_pan_(geology)), salt marshes and [alkaline soils](/source/Alkaline_soil).[5] They are all small [herbaceous plants](/source/Herbaceous_plant) which are [hemiparasites](/source/Hemiparasite) using [haustoria](/source/Haustorium) attached to their roots to steal nutrients from the roots of their [host plants](/source/Host_plant).[14]

## Species

- *[Chloropyron maritimum](/source/Chloropyron_maritimum)* ([Nutt.](/source/Nutt.) ex [Benth.](/source/Benth.)) [A.Heller](/source/A.Heller)
- *[Chloropyron molle](/source/Chloropyron_molle)* ([A.Gray](/source/A.Gray)) [A.Heller](/source/A.Heller)
- *[Chloropyron palmatum](/source/Chloropyron_palmatum)* ([Ferris](/source/Roxana_Stinchfield_Ferris)) Tank & J.M.Egger
- *[Chloropyron tecopense](/source/Chloropyron_tecopense)* (Munz & J.C.Roos) Tank & J.M.Egger

## References

1. ["*Chloropyron*"](https://www.ipni.org/n/30056413-2). *[International Plant Names Index](/source/International_Plant_Names_Index)*. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 11 November 2020.

1. Tank, David C.; Egger, John Mark; Olmstead, Richard G. (March 2009). ["Phylogenetic classification of subtribe Castillejinae (Orobanchaceae)"](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281045901). *Systematic Botany*. **34** (1): 182–197. [doi:10.1600/036364409787602357](https://doi.org/10.1600/036364409787602357). [S2CID 15577936](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15577936). Retrieved 11 November 2020.

1. Chuang, Tsan-Iang & Heckard, Lawrence R. (1973). ["Taxonomy of *Cordylanthus* Subgenus *Hemistegia* (Scrophulariaceae)"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2805932). *Brittonia*. **25** (2): 135–158. [Bibcode:1973Britt..25..135C](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1973Britt..25..135C). [doi:10.2307/2805932](https://doi.org/10.2307/2805932). [JSTOR 2805932](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2805932). [S2CID 42884112](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:42884112). Retrieved 13 November 2020.

1. ["*Cordylanthus maritimus*"](https://www.ipni.org/n/30246885-2). *[International Plant Names Index](/source/International_Plant_Names_Index)*. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 11 November 2020.

1. Stinchfield Ferris, Roxana (1918). ["Taxonomy and distribution of *Adenostegia*"](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12127278). *Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club*. **45** (10): 399–423. [doi:10.2307/2479700](https://doi.org/10.2307/2479700). [JSTOR 2479700](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2479700). Retrieved 11 November 2020.

1. Wettstein, Richard (1891). [*Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien*](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32131842) (in German). Vol. 4 Abt.3b. Leipzig: W. Engelmann. p. 98. [doi:10.5962/bhl.title.4635](https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.4635)

1. Greene, Edward Lee (1891). ["Priorities in Generic Nomenclature"](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15255175). *Pittonia*. **2** (10): 180–181. Retrieved 12 November 2020.

1. Rickett, H. W. & Stafleu, F. A. (1961). ["Nomina Generica Conservanda et Rejicienda Spermatophytorum I*"](https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/534954/MBMHU1961175001001.pdf#107). *Mededelingen van het Botanisch Museum en Herbarium van de Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht*. **175** (1): 112. [ISSN 2352-5754](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2352-5754). Retrieved 13 November 2020.

1. ["Appendix IIIA, Nomina Generica Conservanda et Rejicienda, E. Spermatophyta \[E. 3: Part 1: Dicotyledones\]"](https://www.bgbm.org/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0105AppendixIIIANGEs00301.htm). *International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Saint Louis Code), Electronic version*. International Association for Plant Taxonomy. 12 February 2001. Retrieved 13 November 2020.

1. Briquet, John (1912). [*Règles internationales de la nomenclature botanique adoptées par le Congrès international de botanique de Vienne, 1905*](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24295092). 2 ed. Jena: G. Fischer. p. 99. [doi:10.5962/bhl.title.33717](https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.33717)

1. Macbride, James Francis (1919). ["Reclassified or new Spermatophytes"](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/39946252). *Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University*. **59**: 35–37. Retrieved 13 November 2020.

1. ["*Cordylanthus* subgen. *Hemistegia*"](https://www.ipni.org/n/60462861-2). *[International Plant Names Index](/source/International_Plant_Names_Index)*. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 13 November 2020.

1. ["*Chloropyron* Behr"](http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/30056413-2). *[Plants of the World Online](/source/Plants_of_the_World_Online)*. [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew](/source/Royal_Botanic_Gardens,_Kew). 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2020.

1. Chuang, Tsan-Iang & Heckard, Lawrence R. (March 1976). ["Morphology, Evolution, and Taxonomic Significance of the Inflorescence in *Cordylanthus* (Scrophulariaceae)"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2441571). *American Journal of Botany*. **63** (3): 272–282. [doi:10.2307/2441571](https://doi.org/10.2307/2441571). [JSTOR 2441571](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2441571). Retrieved 12 November 2020.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Chloropyron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloropyron) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloropyron?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.