Nathaliella

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Lamiales

Familia: Scrophulariaceae
Tribus: Scrophularieae
Genus: Nathaliella
Species: N. alaica
Name

Nathaliella B. Fedtsch. Bot. Žhurn. (Moscow & Leningrad) 17: 327. (1932)
monotypic taxon

References

Fedtschenko, B.A. (1932) Botaničeskij Žhurnal (Moscow & Leningrad) 17: 327.
The Plant List 2013. Nathaliella in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published online. Accessed: 2014 March 2.
Tropicos.org 2014. Nathaliella. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 2 March 2014.
International Plant Names Index. 2014. Nathaliella. Published online. Accessed: March 2 2014.

Nathaliella is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Scrophulariaceae. The only species is Nathaliella alaica.[1] It is also within Tribe Scrophularieae.

It is native to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Xinjiang (in China).[1] It is found on sunny, stone filled slopes, at elevations of 1,500–1,600 metres (4,900–5,200 ft) above sea level.[2]

Description

It has thick roots. The caudex (plant stem) is covered in the remains of old leaves and white bristly hairs. It has a petiole (leaf stalk) that is aboout as twice as long as the leaf blade. The leaf blade is broadly ovate,[2] lanceolate or ovoid in shape.[3] They are about 1-1.5 cm wide and 0.5-1 cm long, with an entire (or smooth) margin.[2] It flowers in China in June.[2] The flowers are sessile (without stalk) or pedicellate (stalk of a flower),[3] which is short.[2] The Calyx is 4-5 mm long,[2] with 5 deeply lobes.[3] The corolla is about 1.5 cm long, and purple-red,[2] or pink-violet.[3] The limb is indistinctly 2 lipped.[3] The tube is narrowly cylindrical.[2][3] The throat is slightly dilated.[2] It has 4 stamens, which are attached at the base of corolla tube.[2][3] The filaments (stamen stalks) are filiform (thread-like) and glabrous (smooth).[2] The anthers are divergent.[3] In August, (in China) it produces a fruit or seed capsule,[2] which is ovoid,[2][3] and glabrous. It is about 5-10 mm long and 3-4 mm wide.[2] Inside are numerous seeds.[3]
Taxonomy

The genus name of Nathaliella is in honour of Nathalie A. Desjatova-Shostenko (1889–1969), a Russian-French botanist noted for identifying at least 70 species of plants, many in the genus Thymus.[4] The Latin specific epithet of alaica refers to coming from the Alai Mountains between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.[5]

Both species and genus were first described and published in Bot. Zhurn. S.S.S.R. Vol.17 on page 327 in 1932.[1][6]
Culture

In 2011, a postage stamp series was issued in Uzbekistan with a set of illustrations of flowers, including Nathaliella alaica B. Fedtsch.[7]
References

"Nathaliella B.Fedtsch. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
"Nathaliella alaica in Flora of China @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
Joachim W. Kadereit (Editor) The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. VII Flowering Plants · Dicotyledons: Lamiales (except Acanthaceae including Avivenniaceae), 2004, p. 362, at Google Books
Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
Nowak, Arkadiusz; Świerszcz, Sebastian; Nowak, Sylwia; Nobis, Marcin (2021). "Vegetation Diversity of Screes and Taluses of The Pamir and South-Western Tian Shan in Middle Asia". Folia Geobotanica. 56: 43–67.
"Nathaliella alaica B.Fedtsch. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
"Stamp: Nathaliella alaica B. Fedtsch (Uzbekistan) (Flowers) Mi:UZ 926,Sg:UZ 759,WAD:UZ006.11". Colnect. Retrieved 30 October 2021.