In this study we analysed ETS sequence data of 164 accessions belonging to 31 taxa of Salicornia, a wide‐spread, hygrohalophytic genus of succulent, annual herbs of Chenopodiaceae subfam. Salicornioideae, to investigate phylogenetic and biogeographical patterns and hypothesise about the processes that shaped them Furthermore, our aim was to understand the reasons for the notorious taxonomic difficulties in Salicornia. Salicornia probably originated during the Miocene somewhere between the Mediterranean and Central Asia from within the perennial Sarcocornia and started to diversify during Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene. The climatic deterioration and landscape‐evolution caused by orogenetic processes probably favoured the evolution and initial diversification of this annual, strongly inbreeding lineage from the perennial Sarcocornia that shows only very limited frost tolerance. The further diversification of Salicornia was promoted by at least five intercontinental dispersal events (2× to South Africa, at least 3× to North America) and at least two independent polyploidization events resulting in rapidly expanding tetraploid lineages, both of which are able to grow in lower belts of the saltmarshes than their diploid relatives. The diploid lineages of Salicornia also show rapid and effective range expansion resulting in both widespread genotypes and multiple genotypes in a given area. Reproductive isolation through geographical isolation after dispersal, inbreeding, and comparatively young age might be responsible for the large number of only weakly differentiated lineages. The sequence data show that the taxonomic confusion in Salicornia has two major reasons: (1) in the absence of a global revision and the presence of high phenotypic plasticity, the same widespread genotypes having been given different names in different regions, and (2) striking morphological parallelism and weak morphological differentiation led to the misapplication of the same name to different genotypes in one region.

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Kadereit, G. & A.E. Yaprak. 2008. Microcnemum coralloides (Chenopodiaceae-Salicornioideae): an example of intraspecific East-West disjunctions in the Mediterranean region. Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 65(2): 415-426. Microcnemum is a monotypic genus of Salicornioideae comprising rare, annual, hygrohalophytic herbs growing in hypersaline inland lagoons and salt pans. Microcnemum coralloides shows an East-West disjunction in the Mediterranean region: M. coralloides subsp. coralloides occurs in central and eastern Spain while M. coralloides subsp. anatolicum grows in Turkey, Syria, Armenia and Iran. We studied the phylogeny, biogeography and morphological differentiation of M. coralloides. Molecular analyses, using five western and eight eastern accessions of the species, were based on three different markers (nuclear ITS and plastid atpB-rbcL spacer and trnT/F region) analysed with Maximum Parsimony and Maximum Likelihood. Estimates of divergence times were calculated using a Likelihood Ratio Test (LRT) and the Penalized Likelihood (PL) method. The two subspecies can be clearly distinguished by their different seed testa surface. Other diagnostic characters were not found. The molecular data (ITS and ML analysis of the trnT/F region) indicate that M. coralloides subsp. coralloides originated from within M. coralloides subsp. anatolicum which implies an East Mediterranean origin and subsequent westward dispersal. Age estimates for the split of the two subspecies range from 2.8-0.5 million years ago. Considering the relatively low genetic differentiation and the low crown group age (0.7-0.1 mya) of M. coralloides subsp. coralloides in comparison to M. coralloides subsp. anatolicum we favour the hypothesis that the Iberian part of the species range was established during cold periods of the Early Pleistocene and that the range of the species was fragmented during a warmer period soon after its arrival in Iberia.

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Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. (common ice plant) is an edible halophyte. However, if ice plants are used to phytoremediate salinity soil, there are problems of slow initial growth, and a long period before active NaCl uptake occurs under higher salinity conditions. Application of endophytic bacteria may improve the problem, but there remain gaps in our understanding of how endophytic bacteria affect the growth and the biochemical and physiological characteristics of ice plants. The aims of this study were to identify growth-promoting endophytic bacteria from the roots of ice plants and to document the metabolomic response of ice plants after application of selected endophytic bacteria. Two plant growth-promoting endophytic bacteria were selected on the basis of their ability to promote ice plant growth. The two strains putatively identified as Microbacterium spp. and Streptomyces spp. significantly promoted ice plant growth, at 2-times and 2.5-times, respectively, compared with the control and also affected the metabolome of ice plants. The strain of Microbacterium spp. resulted in increased contents of metabolites related to the tricarboxylic acid cycle and photosynthesis. The effects of salt stress were alleviated in ice plants inoculated with the endobacterial strains, compared with uninoculated plants. A deeper understanding of the complex interplay among plant metabolites will be useful for developing microbe-assisted soil phytoremediation strategies, using Mesembryanthemum species.