Alkekengi officinarum Moench, 1802

Sennikov, Alexander & Lazkov, Georgy, 2022, The first checklist of alien vascular plants of Kyrgyzstan, with new records and critical evaluation of earlier data. Contribution 2, Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 80804-80804 : 80804

Alkekengi officinarum Moench, 1802

Alkekengi officinarum Moench, Suppl. Meth.: 177 (1802) - Physalis alkekengi L., Sp. Pl. 1: 183 (1753).

Alkekengi officinarum Physalis franchetii Alkekengi officinarum var. franchetii

Alkekengi officinarum Physalis praetermissa

Alkekengi officinarum Physalis glabripes

Distribution

Native distribution

Many popular sources and even scientific data aggregators, including Plants of the World Online ( PoWo 2021), stated that this species is native to Eurasia with the continuous distribution from Portugal to Japan. Palaeobotanical data definitely show that the species was present in Europe as early as in Pliocene ( Särkinen et al. 2013), but this evidence does not indicate its continuous presence in the territory. As evident from the details of its distribution in particular countries, the species is native in two disjunct areas: the Caucasus ( Grossheim 1967) and central China ( Li 1973) with adjacent territories.

Secondary distribution

The species was a common vegetable in pre-historic times ( Colledge and Conolly 2014). For this reason, it had been transported with people as they settled in new territories since the Neolithic period (e.g. Kohler-Schneider and Caneppele 2007, Reed 2015, Jin et al. 2020). With humans, it expanded as an archaeophyte to Europe, Central Asia and neighbouring mountainous areas (including Xinjiang). Its occurrence in the Russian Far East ( Ignatov 1991) originated from the ancient Chinese colonisation ( Schischkin 1936). Its non-native status in Central Asia was established by Pojarkova (1954a).

The species is a neophyte outside Eurasia, in North America and northern Africa.

Distribution in Central Asia

The species is widely distributed in Central Asia and has been recorded from every country of the region ( Kovalevskaya 1987). It was commonly cultivated before the Russian colonisation ( Fedtschenko and Fedtschenko 1913) and occurred spontaneously in gardens and around populated places.

Due to a technical error, P. viscosa L. was reported as historically occurring in Uzbekistan ( Khassanov et al. 2020). This record was based on a misfiled collection of A. officinarum from Tashkent (cultivated or weedy), dated 1919.

Distribution in Kyrgyzstan

Western Tian-Shan, Northern Tian-Shan, Alay-Turkestan.

The species has been commonly observed in and around populated places, along irrigation ditches and field margins. It was commonly cultivated in the whole country ( Spota 1960) but went out of fashion and became rare nowadays (Lazkov, pers. obs.). Historical specimens do not provide any reliable data on its former distribution (Fig. 2 ); we assume that the cultivation was concentrated in climatically favourable, agricultural areas of western and northern Kyrgyzstan.

Ecology

Riversides in moist forests in the native distribution area; cultivated lands, sides of watercourses, humid forests in the secondary distribution area.

Biology

Perennial, rhizomatous, spreading by rhizome growth, persisting for a long time without seed reproduction.

Notes

The disjunct native distribution of the species in Eurasia is reflected in its infraspecific variability and, consequently, in its synonymy. Pojarkova (1954a) recognised that plants from the eastern (Chinese) part of the distribution area largely differ in subglabrous leaves, calyces and pedicels, and established a few species-level segregates to reflect this observation. She mostly referred Central Asian plants to P. praetermissa , a subglabrous variant of P. alkekengi with its centre of distribution in China, thus indicating their human-dispersed origin from that country. Latest taxonomic treatments (e.g. Zhang et al. 1994) did not support this splitting, leaving the species as the sole member of the genus Alkekengi , a generic segregate related to Physalis (e.g. Whitson and Manos 2005, Zamora-Tavares et al. 2016). Since both subglabrous and hairy variants of A. officinarum are present extensively in China and Central Asia ( Vasilieva 1965, Zhang et al. 1994), these variants are currently treated at the level of variety, as A. officinarum var. franchetii ( Zhang et al. 1994, Wang 2014).

Introduction to Kyrgyzstan

Period of introduction

Archaeophyte.

The species is an archaeophyte of the Neolithic period, which was introduced from China in pre-historic times. It has been grown in China for at least six thousand years ( Jin et al. 2020) for its edible fruits ( Li 1973) and is still consumed in some rural territories (e.g. Kang et al. 2013, Wang et al. 2020).

Pathways of introduction

Escape from confinement: Agriculture.

The species was introduced and originally used as a vegetable. When its role as a vegetable had decreased and was largely forgotten, it was still cultivated as an ornamental and traditional plant.

The species colonised the territory around the places of original cultivation by vegetative growth and seemingly by seed dispersal along water streams (cf. Cappers 1993). Whereas the species was frequently noted in walnut forests in the proximity of villages in Uzbekistan ( Kovalevskaya 1961), no such wild occurrence is known in Kyrgyzstan, thus indicating that its seed dispersal was very limited or inefficient. Most likely, the main agent of its local dispersal was humans.

Source of introduction

China.

Invasion status

Largely casual (persisting in places of original cultivation) or locally established. All recent observations are from the places of former cultivation (Lazkov, pers. obs.), which should be treated as casual. Not invasive.

Evidence of impact

Agriculture - no impact (the species currently does not occur as a weed, although it was formerly recorded along fields: Spota 1960). Native ecosystems - no impact (not occurring in native habitats). Urban areas - minor impact (may occur as a ruderal in populated places when the cultivation was abandoned).

Trend

Strongly decreasing. The species had been very common in agricultural areas and, at that time, was commonly observed around populated places ( Spota 1960). When the tradition of the species cultivation had practically ceased, it disappeared or much decreased in many places and can be rarely seen nowadays (Fig. 3 ); this observation evidences that the species largely relied on cultivation for its persistence.

Figures

Figure 2. Recorded distribution of Alkekengi officinarum in Kyrgyzstan, according to historical specimens examined (cultivated plants excluded) and recent observations.

Figure 3. Alkekengi officinarum, a survivor of long-abandoned cultivation in Bishkek (photo by G. Lazkov, 21 September 2021).