Sarcobataceae – a new family of Caryophyllales

A review of the discovery and early descriptions of Sarcobatus as well as of its taxonomic history is presented. Studies of the form and size of sieve-element plastids in the order Caryophyllales reveal significant differences between Sarcobatus (so far in Chenopodiaceae) and the majority of the Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae clade (i.e., suborder Chenopodiineae). The presence of P3cfform sieve-element plastids and concomitant absence of chenopod-specific P3f-form plastids reinforce other evidence, in particular from chloroplast DNA sequencing, to make appear Sarcobatus quite distinct from the Chenopodiineae clade and suggest that its proper place is in the vicinity of the Phytolaccaceae and Nyctaginaceae. Therefore, Sarcobatus is segregated as a new family, Sarcobataceae.