Juno persica var. mardinensis (G.Nicholson) 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 : 190

Juno persica var. mardinensis (G.Nicholson) M.B.Crespo, Mart. -Azorín & Mavrodiev comb. nov.

≡ Iris persica var. mardinensis Nicholson (1901: 449) , basionym. Neotype (designated by Boltenkov in Boltenkov & Govaerts 2017: 132):—[ TURKEY]. [Specimen from a cultivated plant]. Iris persica var. mardinense [sic] Tubergen, Catal. 1900, native of Mesopotamia, 8 January 1900, C. Ellis s.n. (K01045491 [digital image!]).

Observations:—This outstanding taxon is restricted to southeastern and eastern Turkey and probably the neighbouring areas of Iraq. In fact, the original material was most probably collected from the surroundings of Mardin, in southeastern Turkey (cfr. Boltenkov & Govaerts 2017). As pointed out by Mathew (1989), the grey-purple colour of the perigone with contrasting spots and most often prominent silvery-white margins distinguishes J. persica var. mardinensis from other relatives in the J. persica aggregate. However, representatives of this variety are variable in size of flower and plant, and they produce funnel-shapped flowers that are either reddish, brownish or purplish, more rarely whitish or greenish-white (T. Hall pers. comm.). Although its leaves with whitish margins and larger flowers as well as the southern distribution remind those of J. sieheana , the flower morphology closely connects this variety to J. persica , as suggested by Nicholson (1901), and allows establishing the combination proposed here. Nonetheless, further studies are needed, including chromosome counts and molecular work, to find out the true relationships of J. persica var. mardinensis to other members of the J. persica aggregate, which could be treated in the future at specific rank.