The genus Acalypha (Euphorbiaceae) in Ukraine: spontaneous spread of A. australis and other species in culture

Abstract

Aims. The article is devoted to the review of the modern distribution of the neophyte of the flora of Ukraine Acalypha australis L. (Euphorbiaceae) in connection with the discovery of its new locations. Summarizing information about new finds of this alien plant of South-Eastern Asian origin in Ukraine and clarifying information about cultivation in domestic introduction institutions of other species of the genus Acalypha. Methods. During floristic research 2019–2023 in Kyiv City and the Kyiv region, the Odesa City and the Odesa region, in the Luhansk City, as well as in Transcarpathia, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Khmelnytskyi administrative regions, new locations were registered and Acalypha australis. The horology of the species is summarized and presented on a map, in addition to its own collections, based on literary sources, herbariums, and other materials. Generalization of information on the cultivation of decorative representatives of the genus Acalypha was carried out according to reference publications and own research. Results. The
authors discovered 22 new locations of A. australis in the Transcarpathian lowland, Right Bank Forest-Steppe, Right Bank Steppe and Left Bank Steppe. According to the Catalogs of six botanical gardens of Ukraine, it was established that decorative A. hispida and A. wilkesiana and a number of varieties of these species are grown in indoor conditions in Ukraine. The latter species is indicated as wild from culture for Italy and Switzerland, but due to its tropical origin, conditions for acclimatization in open ground in Ukraine, at least with the exception of the Southern coast of Crimea, are absent for this and similar species. Conclusions. The generalization of information on the distribution of A. australis in Ukraine confirms the active distribution of the species in the northern and western directions. Although the species is currently representative of the urban flora of the steppe zone and the
Crimea, its findings have also been noted in the Forest-Steppe zone and Transcarpathian lowland. The species is a characteristic weed of decorative and floral plantings and shows a tendency to naturalize as a colonophyte or epoecophyte in ruderal biotopes.