Iris pseudocaucasica Grossheim (1916: 11)

Boltenkov, Eugeny V. & Govaerts, Rafaël, 2017, Typification of names and nomenclatural notes on juno irises (Iridaceae) from Western Asia, Western Europe, and North Africa, Phytotaxa 303 (2), pp. 125-140 : 132

17. Iris pseudocaucasica Grossheim (1916: 11) , syn. nov.

≡ Juno pseudocaucasica (Grossh.) Rodionenko (1961: 208)

= Iris caucasica f. coerulescens Grossh.

Protologue citation:—“Hab. in distr. Lenkoran, tractus Zuvant, inter pagos Orant et Dygja in declivibus siccis sterilibus. Floret 24 April [19]15. Coll. A.A. Grossheim”.

Type (lectotype, designated here):— AZERBAIJAN. [Lerik Rayon], Prov. Baku, distr. Lenkoran (Talysh), Zuvant, inter Orant et Dygja, in declivibus siccis, [fl.], 24 April 1915, A. Grossheim s.n. ( TBI 01025376!, isolectotypes LE 01010450!, TBI 01025377!, TGM No. 209!).

Notes:— Iris pseudocaucasica was described by Grossheim (1916) based on plants collected by him from barren screes in Lerik Rayon, south-eastern Azerbaijan, in 1915. The original material of I. pseudocaucasica is represented by one gathering which consists of several specimens. All the above-mentioned specimens are accompanied by a label with the printed note “Herbarium Horti Botanici Tiflisiensis”, on which Grossheim handwrote the collection locality and the name of the plants. In the protologue, Grossheim (1916) indicated that I. pseudocaucasica was more closely related to I. caucasica . This species has the same habit and size of flower as those of I. caucasica , from which it is primarily distinguished by its flower colour (not greyish-yellow, but blue with different shades of yellow), as well as by the shape of perianth segments. Later, Grossheim (1936: 253) referred the plants with blue flowers to I. caucasica . Vvedensky (1935: 575), after studying the original material of I. pseudocaucasica , noted that the shape of outer perianth segments had been described incorrectly in the protologue (they are not linear but oblanceolate). Grossheim (1940: 279) admitted that the shape of inner perianth segments in I. pseudocaucasica is the same as that in I. caucasica and cast doubts on the invariability of flower colour in I. pseudocaucasica . Plants which have a hue of blue against the general yellow background of organs, and it sometimes becomes prevalent over the yellow colour, frequently occur among I. caucasica . In one of his last works, Grossheim (1950: 3) described I. caucasica f. coerulescens which is characterized by a pale bluish-violet colouration of flower. Grossheim emphasized that I. pseudocaucasica has the same perianth colour as that in I. caucasica f. coerulescens , but it differs from I. caucasica in the shape of outer and inner perianth segments. This however is a variable feature both in I. caucasica and in I. pseudocaucasica ( Mathew 1989: 163) . The results of molecular studies ( Ikinci et al. 2011, Mavrodiev et al. 2014) have shown that I. pseudocaucasica and I. caucasica form a subclade with other species. In this regard, I. pseudocaucasica is believed to be a form of I. caucasica .