Bartsia

Bartsia L.
(incl. Bellardia All.)

Bartsia is a genus with about 55 species. It has a circumboreal distribution with a few species in Europe, the Mediterranean and in mountainous regions in Africa. However, it is most diverse and numerous in the Andes where 45 species occur, all endemic to that region (Mabberley 2008). The genus was well-studied by Molau (1990) who, on morphological grounds, adopted a broad circumscription of the genus, merging it with Bellardia. This taxonomic framework is followed here as well, like in most contemporary European floras (e.g. Benedí 2009, Tison & de Foucault 2014). However, molecular studies seem to indicate that the genus is polyphyletic and falls apart in three clades, corresponding to species in South America, Europe and Africa (Uribe-Convers & al. 2016, Uribe-Convers & Tank 2016). Therefore, the South American species were segregated and accommodated in the new genus Neobartsia Uribe-Convers & Tank (Uribe-Convers & Tank 2016). Other studies clearly not supported Bellardia trixago as part of Bartsia s.str. Instead, it is part of a highly supported clade together with Parentucellia and the New World species of Bartsia s.l. (Scheunert & al. 2012). Pending additional studies a conservative taxonomic approach is followed in this account.
A single species, Bartsia trixago L., is weedy and now is widely distributed (Europe, Africa, America, Australia). It has also been recorded as an alien in Belgium.

Literature:

Benedí C. (1998) Consideraciones taxonómicas y nomenclaturales en el género Bartsia L . y otras Rhinanthoideae (Scrophulariaceae). Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 56(1): 183-185. [available online at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28150211_Consideraciones_taxono...
Benedí C. (2009) Bartsia. In: Castroviejo S. (ed.), Flora Iberica, vol. 13. Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid: 501-505. [available online at: http://www.floraiberica.es/floraiberica/texto/pdfs/13_144_28_Bartsia.pdf]
Hedberg O., Ericson B., Grill-Willen A., Hunde A., Kallsten L., Lofgren O., Ruuth T. & Ryding O. (1979) The yellow-flowered species of Bartsia (Scrophulariaceae) in Tropical Africa. Norw. J. Bot. 26(1): 1-9. [available online at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282979836_The_yellow-flowered_s...
Hedberg O., Holmlund P.E., Mahunnah R.L.A., Mhoro B., Mziray W.R. & Nordenhed A.C. (1980) The Bartsia abyssinica group (Scrophulariaceae) in Tropical Africa. Bot. Notiser 133(2): 205-213.
Mabberley D.J. (2008) Mabberley’s plant-book (3th ed.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: XVIII + 1021 p.
Marticorena C. & Kalin Arroyo M.T. (1984) El género Bartsia L. (Scrophulariaceae) en Chile. Gayana, Bot. 41(1-2): 47-51. [available online at: http://www.ieb-chile.cl/otras_publicaciones/MKalin/Marticorena_Arroyo_19...
Molau U. (1990) The genus Bartsia (Scrophulariaceae-Rhinanthoideae). Opera Bot. 102: 5-99.
Scheunert A., Fleischmann A., Olano-Marín C., Bräuchler C. & Heubl G. (2012) Phylogeny of tribe Rhinantheae (Orobanchaceae) with a focus on biogeography, cytology and re-examination of generic concepts. Taxon 61(6): 1269-1285. [available online at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281691099_Phylogeny_of_tribe_Rh...
Tison J.-M. & de Foucault B. (coord.) (2014) Flora Gallica. Flore de France. Editions Biotope, Mèze : xx + 1196 p.
Uribe-Convers S., Settles M.L., Tank D.C. (2016) A Phylogenomic Approach Based on PCR Target Enrichment and High Throughput Sequencing: Resolving the Diversity within the South American Species of Bartsia L. (Orobanchaceae). PLoS ONE. 11(2). [available online at: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148203]
Uribe-Convers S. & Tank D.C. (2016) Phylogenetic Revision of the genus Bartsia (Orobanchaceae), disjunct distributions correlate to independent lineages. Systematic Botany 41(3): 672-684.