Juno furseorum (T.Hall & Seisums) M.B.Crespo, Mart.

Crespo, Manuel B., Martínez-Azorín, Mario & Mavrodiev, Evgeny V., 2018, Notes on taxonomy and nomenclature of juno irises (Juno, Iridaceae), Phytotaxa 376 (5), pp. 185-200 : 189

Juno furseorum (T.Hall & Seisums) M.B.Crespo, Mart. -Azorín & Mavrodiev comb. nov.

≡ Iris furseorum T. Hall & Seisums (2014a: 257) , basionym. Holotype:— AFGHANISTAN. Kataghan Province , Farquar Valley, 7 miles S of Farquar, on granite-grit slopes, 7000–8000 ft elevation, 19 March 1973 [flowered in cult. J.G. Elliott, Ashford, Kent], P.Furse 8206 (K001089490 [digital image!]).

Observations:—As shown by Hall & Seisums (2014a), the taxonomic story of this species (like that of many other juno irises) has been enigmatic, mainly due to the scarcity of data on wild and cultivated material. The type material (Furse 8206) was gathered by Rear-Admiral Paul Furse and his wife Polly Furse in 1966 in Kataghan Province (northeastern Afghanistan), and was primarily identified as Iris baldshuanica Fedtschenko (1909: 77) [≡ Juno baldshuanica (O.Fedtsch.) Vvedensky (1963: 385) ], from adjacent Tajikistan (cfr. Furse & Furse 1968, Furse 1968). In different treatments (see summary in Hall & Seisums 2014a), Furses’ collection was assigned to Iris rosenbachiana Regel (1884: 675) [≡ Juno rosenbachiana (Regel) Vvedensky (1935a: 152) ] or I. nicolai (Vved.) Vvedensky (1935b: 561) [≡ Juno nicolai Vvedensky (1935a: 151) ], two taxa included by Rodionenko (1994) in Juno sect. Physocaulon Rodionenko (1961: 208) ser. Rosenbachianae Rodionenko (1961: 208) .

In the plastid DNA molecular analysis by Ikinci et al. (2011), Iris furseorum was included as “ Iris cfr. baldshuanica ” and was recovered as a member of the Physocaulon section, though its position was not resolved. It however formed a strongly supported clade with both latter species plus I. zaprjagajevii (N.V.Abramov) T.Hall & Seisums in Ikinci et al. (2011: 300) [≡ Juno zaprjagajevii Abramov (1971: 115) ] from Badakhshan region (southeastern Tajikistan). Several morphological similarities connect Iris furseorum to that species, but clear differences in the latter such as the narrower leaves with a slightly scabrous and cartilaginous margin, the yellowish flowers tinged with pinkish-brown and the chromosome count 2n = 24 (instead of 2n = 26) allow recognition of I. furseorum at the species rank. The necessary combination to accommodate it into Juno is stated here.