Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi Tunçkol, Özkan & Al-Shehbaz, 2022

Tunçkol, Bilge, Özkan, Neval Güneş & Al-Shehbaz, Ihsan A., 2022, Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi (Brassicaceae), a new species from Turkey and a key to the species of Aubrieta, Phytotaxa 530 (2), pp. 251-256 : 252-255

Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi Tunçkol, Özkan & Al-Shehbaz , sp. nov.

Diagnosis:— Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi is easily distinguished from the related A. alshehbazii by having smaller petals (8–)10–12.5 × 3–3.5 mm (vs. 14–16 × 6–8 mm), longer fruiting pedicels 8–14 (vs. 2–5) mm long, unappendaged (vs. appendaged) lateral filaments, and narrower fruits 1.2–2 (vs. 3.5–4.5) mm wide.

Type:— TURKEY. A3 Bolu, on road of Yedigöller National Park, Gurbetkayasý, Alt. 1664 m., basalt and limestone rock, 36 T 389539.47 D, 4525827.06 K, 6 May 2020 , N. Aksoy 8306 , A. Ayteðin & Y. Zorlu (holotype, DUOF; isotype, MO). Figures 1 , 2 .

Description: —Herbs perennial, somewhat densely cespitose; caudex with many slender branches covered with leaf remains of previous seasons. Trichomes primarily short stalked to subsessile, stellate, with 4 or 5 (or 6) rays, 0.1– 0.25(–0.35) mm long; simple and 2-rayed forked trichomes 0.3–0.75 mm long, very sparse, individual ones on leaf margin and apex and rarely sepal apex. Stems 1–3(–5) cm tall, slender, stellate pubescent throughout. Basal leaves rosulate, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate or spatulate, 5–9(–12) × 2–3.5 mm, very rarely to 3.5× longer than broad; cauline leaves 2–4(or 5), usually spatulate, lower ones similar in size to basal ones, upper smaller, attenuate to base, not auriculate, margin entire or 1-toothed, sparsely stellate and sometimes with individual simple trichome, apex acute, adaxially sparsely to moderately stellate, abaxially subglabrous or very sparsely stellate. Racemes lax, slender, 3–5- flowered, hardly elongated in fruit, rachis straight, stellate pubescent; fruiting pedicels ascending to divaricate, 2–5 mm long, terete, stellate pubescent. Sepals erect, narrowly oblong, 5–7 mm long, pubescent outside, glabrous inside, apex sometimes with individual simple trichomes; median pair not saccate; lateral pair longer than median, strongly saccate, with a pouch 1–1.5 mm long; petals violet, 10–12.5 mm long, blade obovate, 5–6 × 3–3.5 mm, flaring; claw erect, white, 5–6 mm long; stamens 6, tetradynamous, white; filaments flattened, median pairs 5–6 mm long, lateral pair 3.5–4 mm long, unappendaged; anthers oblong, 1–1.3 mm long; ovules 14–26 per ovary. Fruit linear, strongly latiseptate, linear in cross section, tapering at both ends, 1–1.8 cm long excluding style, 1.2–2 mm wide, uniformly stellate pubescent; style 2–4 mm long, slender, glabrous; stigma entire. Seeds biseriate, pale brown, ovate to elliptic, ca. 1 × 0.5 mm, wingless, not mucilaginous when wetted.

Phenology: —flowering and fruiting April through May.

Distribution: —endemic to northern Turkey in Bolu Province.

Etymology: —The species is named in honour of Prof. Dr. Necmi Aksoy (19 April 1974), founder and director of DUOF Herbarium and mentor of the first two authors.

Habitat: —open slopes of basalt and limestone rocky slopes; in mixed forests of Pinus sylvestris L., Abies nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojani (Asch. & Sin. ex Boiss.) Coode & Cullen , and Fagus sylvatica subsp. orientalis (Lipsky) Greuter & Burdet ; elevations 1660–1760 m. Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi grows at a transitional zone between euxine to subeuxine (Black Sea) environments along with taxa such as Colchicum speciosum Steven , Corydalis wendelboi subsp. congesta Liden & Zetterl. (endemic), Cota tinctoria (L.) J.Gay, Cotaneaster nummularius Fisch. & C.A.Mey., Crocus ancyrensis (Herb.) Maw. , Cruciata taurica (Pall. ex Willd.) Ehrend. , Genista januensis subsp. lydia (Boiss.) Kit Tan & Ziel , Juniperus communis var. saxatilis Pall. , Muscari armeniacum Leichtlin ex Baker , Ornithogalum wiedemannii Boiss. var. wiedemannii , Potentilla micrantha Ramond ex DC. , Primula acaulis (L.) L. subsp. acaulis , Scilla bifolia L., and Viola kitaibeliana Roem. & Schult.

Conservation status: — Only about 30 individuals were observed in the single population of the type locality of Aubrieta necmi-aksoi . The conservation status of this novelty should be listed as Critically Endangered ( CR) following IUCN categories ( IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, 2017) .

Discussion: — Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi , A. alshehbazii Dönmez et al. (2017: 104) , and A. ekimii Yüzbașýoðlu et al. (2015: 2046) , are closely related species each endemic to one of the three NW Anatolian provinces Bolu, Bursa, and Kocaeli, respectively ( Fig. 3 ). The new species differs from A. alshehbazii by having smaller flowers (sepals 4.5–7 mm long, petals (8–)10–12.5 × 3–3.5 mm, claws 5–6 mm long), unappendaged lateral filaments 3.5–4 mm long, distinctly longer fruiting pedicels 8–14 mm long, narrower fruits 1.2–2 mm wide, and styles 2–4 mm long. By contrast, A. alshehbazii has larger flowers (sepals 7–9 mm long, petals 14–16 × 6–8 mm, claws 7–10 mm long), lateral filaments 6–7 mm long with a toothlike appendage, fruiting pedicels 2–5 mm long, broader fruits 3.5–4.5 mm wide, and styles 6–8 mm long. From A. ekimii , A. necmi-aksoyi differs by having smaller fruits 1–1.8 cm × 1.2–2 mm (vs. (2.4–)3– 4.2(–4.5) cm × (2–)2.5–3(–3.7) mm) with shorter styles 2–4 (vs. 5.4–9) mm long, and leaves pubescent throughout (vs. glabrous on surfaces and pubescent along margins.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): Turkey, A3 Bolu, Yedigöller National Park, Gurbetkayasý , 1760 m., 36 T 389539.47 D, 4525827.06 K, 22 April 2017 , N. Aksoy 8380 ( DUOF, MO) , N . Aksoy 8215 ( DUOF, MO); ibid., 1664 m., 13 April 2018 , N. Aksoy 8306 , A. Ayteðin & Y. Zorlu ( DUOF, MO) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi. A–D. Plants and closeups of flowers showing color variation. E. Habitat (rocky slope in foreground). (Photos Gurbetkayasý on Yedigöller Road).

FIGURE 2. Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi. SEM micrographs of leaf (A, B) and seed (C, D) surfaces. Scale: A = 3 mm; B = 500 μm; C = 50 μm; D = 500 μm.

FIGURE 3. Provincial distribution of Aubrieta necmi-aksoyi (▲), A. alshehbazii (■), and A. ekimii (●) in Turkey.