Bellevalia sasonii Fidan, 2019

Fidan, Mehmet, 2019, Bellevalia sasonii (Asparagaceae): a new species from Turkey, Phytotaxa 394 (2), pp. 126-132 : 127-128

Bellevalia sasonii Fidan , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–3 )

Type:— TURKEY. B8 Batman: Sason country Karameşe village road 1. km, 38°17ʹ48.29ʺN, 41°19ʹ53.97ʺE, forest clearance, 733 m, 11April 2017, M Fidan 3012.

Bulb ovoid-subglobose, 1.0–2.0× 0.8–1.6 cm, outer tunic coriaceous, brownish; inner tunic light coloured. Leaves 1(–2), linear-lanceolate to elliptic, slightly undulate, longer than scape in flowering and fruiting time (including inflorescence), 15–29 × 1.0–2.0 cm, margin membranous and smooth. Scape 1, 8.5–19 cm long, green to yellowish-green. Raceme cylindrical to slightly conical, 1.8–3.5 cm long, elongating to c. 8.0cm in fruit, rachis purplish to purplish-green in flowering time, yellowish-green in fruiting time. Pedicels erect 10–13 mm, (2.4–4.8 cm in fruit). Flowers 14–30, 5–6 mm, tubular-campanulate, perianth purplish-violet in bud, perianth tube 3–4 mm long; lobes distinctly shorter than the tube. Stamens flat, triangular. Anthers yellowish, up to 1.4 mm, reaching at least the peak of the lobes and appearing between the lobes. Capsule triquetrous up to 10 mm in diameter. Seed ovate-oblong 1–2 mm, black, shiny.

Distribution and Ecology:— Bellevalia sasonii is endemic to the Sason district of Batman province in south-eastern Anatolia. It is an element of the Irano-Turanian floristic region and grows in Quercus infectoria Oliv. clearings at altitudes between 700 m and 800 m together with Anemone coronaria L., Paliurus spina-christii P. Mill. and Ranunculus arvensis L..

Etymology:— This species was named Bellevalia sasonii after Sason, Batman, which is hence the type locality. At the same time, this plant was named in honour of the author’s nephew, who is also named Sason.

Vernacular name:— The author proposes “Sason Kırsümbülü; Hyacinth of Sason” as the Turkish name of this new species, according to the guidelines of Menemen et al. (2016).

Phenology:— Bellevalia sasonii flowers from March to April.

Conservation status:— During field observations performed over 2 years in the only population of B. sasonii just a few individuals were found. Therefore, it was categorized as ‘Endangered’ (EN) according to criterion D (number of mature individuals less than 250) based on the IUCN criteria ( IUCN 2014).

Taxonomic relationships:— Bellevalia sasonii is morphologically similar to B. malatyaensis , another Turkish endemic species, but showing the following differences (features of B. malatyaensis in brackets): bulb 1.0–2.0 cm (1.5–2.0 cm), scape single up to 19 cm (single, 2.5–7.0 cm), pedicel up to 5 cm (0.8–3.5 cm), buds purplish-violet (white with greenish tinge), lobes up to 2.5 mm (1.0– 1.5 mm), capsule valves up to 10 mm, cordate (3.0–7.0 mm), leaf apex obtuse longer than the scape (apex cucullate shorter than the scape). B. sasonii is also similar, at a lesser extent, to other Turkish endemic species of Bellevalia , such as B. longipes , B. pseudologipes and B. vuralii , from which is distinguished by the following features: B. sasonii has 1 (rarely 2) leaf (leaves), whereas B. longipes , B. pseudolongipes and B. vuralii bear usually more than 2 leaves; B. sasonii has a single scape 8.5–19.0 cm long, whereas in B. longipes the single scape is 15–60 cm long, B. pseudolongipes shows instead 1–2 (rarely 3) scape(s) 3.0– 10.5 cm long, and B. vuralii has 1 (rarely 2) scape(s) 3–10 (rarely 18) cm long; B. sasonii has an ovate-oblong capsule up to 10 mm long, whereas in B. longipes the capsule is ovate-oblong and 17–23 mm long, in B. pseudolongipes is elliptic and 13–15 mm long, and in B. vuralii is cordate-obovate and 8 mm long.

The seed testa ornamentation of B. sasonii is foveolate, with anticlinal and periclinal cell walls raised concave, and the epidermal cell structures are alveolate ( Figure 2 ). Pollen grains of B. sasonii are radial, prolate and anisopolar with polar and equatorial axis of 24.78 ± 0.21 μm and of 15.44 ± 0.42 μm, respectively; they have monocolpate apertures, with colpi varying from 13.49 to 16.14 μm in length, and from 2.69 to 4.61 μm in width. The margins are regular and the apex is acute. The pollen ornamentation is foveolate. The lumina consist of polygonal and alveolar cells ( Figure 2 ). Seed and pollen features of B. sasonii do not show diacritic differences from other similar Bellevalia species, such as B. behcetii and B. pseudolongipes ( Pınar et al. 2016; Unalan & Pınar 2017).

The results of the morphological analyses revealed that B. sasonii is a new species endemic to the Sason district in Batman, south-eastern Anatolia. Hence, the number of Bellevalia species in Turkey has risen to 32 with the discovery of B. sasonii .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Bellevalia sasonii sp. nov. A. general habitus in nature, B. entire plant C. detail of the inflorescence, D. flower, E. leaf margin, F. seed.

FIGURE 2. SEM photographs of seed (A), seed testa (B), pollen grain (equatorial view, C), and pollen surface (ornamentation, D).

FIGURE 3. Distribution map of B. sasonii sp. nov.and related taxa. B.sasonii (■), B.longipes (Ì), B. malatyaensis (▲), B.pseudolongipes (●) B. vuralii (™).