Elwendia capusii (Franchet, 1883) Pimenov & Kljuykov

Kljuykov, Eugene V., Lazkov, Georgii A., Degtjareva, Galina V., Zakharova, Ekaterina A., Ukrainskaja, Uljana A., Lyskov, Dmitry F. & Samigullin, Tahir H., 2022, Taxonomic revision of critical taxa of Elwendia (Umbelliferae-Apioideae) from Tajikistan and neighbouring countries, with descriptions of three new species from the Pamir-Alay and distributional novelties, Phytotaxa 543 (5), pp. 255-273 : 268

Elwendia capusii is new to Afghanistan

Elwendia capusii is a species widely distributed in Mountain Middle Asia, Tian-Shan and Pamir-Alay. In South Tajikistan, it occurs up to the Afghan border but has not been reported from Afghanistan ( Rechinger 1987). Based on herbarium specimens examined at E, K, MW, M and LE, we confirm the presence of the species in North Afghanistan. Elwendia capusii is morphologically distinctive among the other species due to the presence of long (over a half of the mericarp length) and erect (vs. recurved) styles. Our phylogenetic tree highlights that the E. capusii clade is well delineated and supported, but also a genetic differentiation among its populations has occurred. In the absence of any good distinguishing morphological characters, the observed variation in ITS/ETS sequences between the samples from Afghanistan and from the remaining area can be considered as infraspecific.

Specimens examined:— Afghanistan, Mashad to Faizabad Badakhshan ( Kochka valley ), 3500 ft., limestone slopes. 19 May 1964, F.Furse 6147 (K!, LE!) . Afghanistan, prov. Balkh: Ali Koh , 5 km SO Sultan Baba ( 18 km S Mazar-i-Sharif), 1200 m, Kalkfelsen. 67/09-36/34. 11 April 1978, Podlech 31015 (M!); prov. Balkh, Mazar-i-Scharif, 29 May 1969, Hedge, Wendelbo & Ekberg 8485A (E!, MW!) .

Distribution area:— Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, N Afghanistan.