Orobanche staehelinae D.Pav., Michaud, Véla, 2015

Pavon, Daniel, Michaud, Henri, Vela, Errol & Tison, Jean-Marc, 2015, Orobanche staehelinae (Orobanchaceae), a new species from southeast France, Phytotaxa 207 (1), pp. 93-105 : 96-97

Orobanche staehelinae D.Pav., Michaud, Véla & J.-M.Tison, sp. nov. ( Figures 1–6)

Type:— FRANCE. Bouches-du-Rhône: Marseille, Calanques National Park, haut du vallon d’En Vau, 26 May 2013, H. Michaud s.n. (holotype AIX!).

Small or medium-sized plant, (12–)15–30(–40) cm tall (usually 15–25 cm), entirely brownish-red. Stem max. 7–8 mm in diameter. Leaves (16–)17–20(–23) × (3–) 4–5 mm. Inflorescence short, never reaching half of the total length of the plant (usually about one third of the total length), rather dense, densely covered with short glandular hairs. Bracts 17–20 × 5–6 mm, as long as, or shorter than the corolla. Calyx segments (13–)15–17(–18) mm long, generally bidentate with unequal teeth often shorter than the tube, sometimes the longest one equalling or exceeding the tube. Coroll a reddish with darker veins, 18–25(–26) mm long, erect-patent at the end of flowering, with dorsal line straight in the middle (not uniformly curved). Filaments inserted 3–4(–5) mm above the base of the corolla, hairy at the lower part, sparsely hairy along a dorsal line. Ovary glabrous. Style glabrous, rarely with few scattered hairs. Stigma dark honey- or chocolate-brown.

Etymology: —The epithet refers to the host, Staehelina dubia Linnaeus (1753: 840) ( Asteraceae ).

Host:— Parasite on Staehelina dubia (fig. 7).

Habitat:— Open calcareous rocky scrubland (fixed screes or lapiaz) at the meso-mediterranean level under Mediterranean pluviseasonal oceanic bioclimate (Rivas-Martinez, 1996–2009), at an elevation of 140–500 m (fig. 8).

Phenology:— The species flowers in late May and early June.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — FRANCE. Bouches-du-Rhône: Marseille, Calanques National Park, col de la Gardiole, 25 May 2014, E. Véla 0004 (MPU!, G!).