Brassica huseyin-duralii Başköse & Savran, 2023

Başköse, İsa, Özüdoğru, Bariş, Savran, Ahmet & Keskin, Ali, 2023, A new species of Brassica (Brassicaceae) from Bolkar Mountains (Türkiye) with morphological and molecular evidence, Phytotaxa 632 (2), pp. 101-117 : 103-104

Brassica huseyin-duralii Başköse & Savran sp. nov. [ Figs. 3 (A–B), 4, 5(A–B)]

Type:— TÜRKİYE. Niğde province, Ulukışla districh, Darboğaz village, Bolkar Mountain , above Meydan Plateau , east of Karagöl lake, western slopes of Sarıtepe , alpine calcareous rocks, 2500-2700 m a.s.l, 01 July 2018, 37°24’17.81”N – 34°34’10.71”E, A. Keskin, Başköse and Savran- 4800, (holotype and isotype, ANK!).

Diagnosis: Brassica huseyin-duralii is similar to B. repanda . It differs from B. repanda by its woody caudex (vs. herbaceous, partly hard, or abscent), leaf succulent (vs. non-succulent), all rosette leaf blade entire and oblong, oblong-elliptic, oblanceolate or obovate, rarely spatulate (vs. rarely entire to pinnatisect), stem leaves linear or narrow oblong (vs. stem leaves absent). New species is also allied to B. elongata , from which differs by its stem length between 20–45 cm (vs. 55–100 cm), rosette leaves oblong, oblong-elliptic, oblanceolate or obovate, rarely spatulate (vs. oblong-ovate), stem leaves linear or narrow oblong, sessile (vs. oblong or lanceolate, shortly stalked), basal leaves densely strigose hairy (vs. tubercled curved bristles on both sides), and siliqua vide 2.0– 3.75 mm (vs. 1–2.5 mm).

Description:—Plant caespitose perennial herb. Caudex woody. Stem 20–45 cm, often unbranched or rarely the lower parts of the stem are branched, cylindrical, lower parts hairy, middle and upper parts glabrous, green or greenishyellow but light brown at maturity. Leaves both at the base and on the stem (1-3 pieces); rosette leaves, 5.0–9.0 × 0.5–1.2 cm, petiolate, 1–3 cm, succulent, blade oblong, oblong-elliptic, oblanceolate or obovate, rarely spatulate, both surfaces densely covered strigose hairs, hairs spreading or retrorse; margin entire or rarely inconspicuously toothed, apex acute or obtuse, base attenuate; stem leaves 1–3 and only present near the base, 2.0–4.0 × 0.15–0.40 cm, blade linear or narrow oblong, hairy, margin entire, apex acute or obtuse, base attenuate. Inflorescence racemose or rarely panicle, 10–30 flowered, bract absent. All flowers pedicellate, pedicel (5.0–) 6.0–12.5 (–15.0) mm, glabrous or hairy. Sepals 4, free, 4.0–6.75 × 1.0– 2.5 mm, obovate or oblong, yellow, yellowish-green or rarely maroon, apex obtuse, margin entire, near the tip hispid loosely hispid. Petals 4, free, bright yellow, 7.5–11.5 × 2.0– 3.5 mm, spatulate, blade obovate, ovate or partly orbicular, glabrous. Stamen 6, 5.0– 12 mm; anthers pale yellow, 2.0–3.0 × 0.7–1.2 mm, ovate-oblong; filaments 4.0–9.0 × 0.30–0.80 mm, cylindrical, pale yellow, glabrous. Pistil 1, 2-carpellate, 5.5–9.5 mm long, yellowish-green, glabrous; stigma capitate; style very short, about 1–1.5 mm long. Carpophore cylindrical and 2.0– 5.75 mm, glabrous. Fruit siliqua, 20–45 × 2.0– 3.75 mm, 1-veined, beak absent, sometimes torulose, spreading in early period but recurved at maturity, glabrous. Seeds 1.3–2.0 × 1.0– 1.5 mm, ovoid or rarely globose, uniseriate, pale brown and sometimes slightly black the parts near to base.

Habitat:— The new species grows on subalpine calcareous rocks between 2500 and 2700 m a.s.l. in the Bolkar Mountains, where it is found together with taxa such as Anchonium elichrysifolium Boissier (1867: 240) , Hypericum kotschyanum Boissier (1843: 56) , Hypericum crenulatum Boissier (1856: 69) , Heracleum humile Smith (1806: 193) , Crepis dioritica Schott & Kotschy ex Boissier (1875: 842) , Crepis willdenowii Czerepanow (1964: 645) , Androsace villosa Linnaeus (1753: 142) , Gentiana boissieri Schott & Kotschy ex Boissier (1875: 75) , and Lamium eriocephalum Bentham (1848: 506) .

Conservation status:— The new species is known from a single locality in the Bolkar Mountains extending into the borders of the Ulukışla district of Niğde province. The Bolkar Mountains are a tectonic mountain range with a highest point of 3524 m, located within the Taurus Mountains range that separates the Central Anatolian and Mediterranean regions of Türkiye and spreads over the provinces of Konya, Niğde, Adana, and Mersin. The Bolkar Mountains have important biodiversity because they constitute a major transition zone between the Central Anatolian and Mediterranean regions. Due to that feature, these mountains are home to many endemic plants, and the authors also identified Brassica huseyin-duralii as a new species in this important area. As a result of observations made by the authors in different years, it was determined that the new species is perennial, inhabits an area of occupancy of approximately 2 km 2, and has fewer than 400 individuals representing the population. Since livestock activities are carried out in the region, there is a high rate of grazing pressure from goats and sheep in and around the locality of the new species. Based on the available information, the authors suggest that the new species be evaluated in the IUCN Critically Endangered (CR) category according to the B2ab (i-v) criteria ( IUCN, 2022).

Turkish name for the new species:— The common name for Brassica in English is “cabbage or mustard”, and in Turkish is “lahana”. But, in Türkiye, most of the species are known instead as “şalgam or hardal”. Therefore, we propose “Bolkar hardalı” as a Turkish vernacular name for Brassica duralii-duralii ( Menemen et al. 2016) .

Etymology:— The new species is named in honour of the eminent Turkish botanist Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Dural (Selçuk University, Konya), who retired 3 years ago.

Fenology:— Flowering time in late May–June, and fruiting in July.

Molecular phylogenetic analysis:— The aligned ITS dataset included 51 sequences belonging to 45 species and was 658 bp in length, of which 183 were potentially parsimony-informative and 97 were variable but not informative. Brassica huseyin-duralii and its morphologically close relative B. elongata were grouped together with maximum bootstrap (100) and posterior probability (pp=1) support, while individuals of the other morphologically similar B. repanda fell into a clade with Eruca vesicaria ( Figure 2 ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Phylogenetic placement of Brassica huseyin-duralii based on Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS). Phylogenetic tree is derived from Bayesian analysis. Posterior probabilities (> 0.5) and bootstrap values (derived from maximum likelihood analysis) are given above and belowe the branches, respectively. Brassica huseyin-duralii and its close relatives B. elongata and B. repanda are highlighted by color.

FIGURE 3. Habitus and habitat of Brassica huseyin-duralii, A-B) habitus, C-D) habitat of new species [above Meydan Platea, photos were taken by Ahmet Savran (A) and Ali Keskin (B,C,D)]