Papaver sect. Rhoeadium Spach

Elvebakk, Arve & Bjerke, Jarle W., 2024, Papaver recircumscribed: A review of neighbouring Papaveraceae genera, including Afropapaver nom. et stat. nov. and Oreomecon, a large, Arctic-Alpine genus, PhytoKeys 248, pp. 105-188 : 105-188

7.4. Papaver sect. Rhoeadium Spach , Hist. Nat. Veg. Phan. 7: 16. 1839

Type species.

Papaver segetale Schimp. & Spenn. , Fl. Friburg. 3: 1829 [= Papaver rhoeas L.].

Notes.

This section was monographed by Kadereit (1989), who accepted 16 species and five subspecies, whereas the Cape Verdean P. gorgoneum Coutinho with one additional subspecies was added by Kadereit and Lobin (1990). The following changes indicated by POWO (2023) and Hassler (2023 b) are accepted here: Papaver guerlekense Stapf is reduced to synonymy of P. rhoeas L., P. stylatum Boiss. is reduced to synonymy of P. umbonatum Boiss. and three subspecies of P. dubium L. are raised to species level as P. glabrum Royle , P. lecoqii Lamotte and P. laevigatum M. Bieb. , respectively.

The following taxa were not accepted by Kadereit (1989) or were described subsequently. Papaver postii Fedde , treated as a synonym of P. rhoeas L. by Kadereit (1989), was accepted as a deviating perennial member of Rhoeadium by Cullen (1965) and later also accepted by POWO (2023). In a study from Cyprus, Aghababyan et al. (2011) compared P. postii Fedde with the new species P. paphium M. V. Agab. et al. and P. cyprium (Chrtek & B. Slavik) M. V. Agab. et al. , the latter being a taxon originally described as a subspecies of P. rhoeas . These taxa are all accepted by POWO (2023) and Hassler (2023 b) and are also accepted here.

Some rare species were dealt with in a study on the Red-listed species of Caucasus in a broad sense by a joint effort of botanists from Türkiye, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran ( Solomon et al. 2014). The Papaver species agreed on by these authors are, with one exception, accepted here. Their treatment includes three endemic species from Armenia described by Aghababyan and Fragman-Sapir (2007), two within this section. Papaver roseolum M. V. Agab. & Fragman was listed as endangered and P. gabrielianae M. V. Agab. as vulnerable ( Solomon et al. 2014). Papaver schelkovnikovii N. Busch from Azerbaijan was listed as endangered by Solomon et al. (2014) and included within the top 50 national conservation priorities of this country. It is known from two localities and cited as endemic, although POWO (2023) cited it to have a wider distribution. In addition, Aghababyan (2013) described P. gorovanicum M. V. Agab. as a local endemic from sandy soils near the village of Gorovan in the Ararat Region of Armenia.

Papaver albiflorum (Elkan) Pacz. , previously included as a variety within P. dubium by Kadereit (1989), was accepted by POWO (2023), who treated P. paczoskii Mikheev as a synonym. Papaver confine Jord. , from the same complex in Europe, was also accepted by POWO (2023) and by Hassler (2023 b). Mikheev (1993), who reviewed the Papaveraceae flora of the Russian Caucasus, reduced his P. alberti Mikheev to a synonym of P. stevenianum Mikheev , which later was treated as P. dubium subsp. stevenianum (Mikheev) Kubát & Šipošová , an alternative followed here. Solomon et al. (2014, as P. alberti ) treated the taxon as Nearly Threatened ( NT). Mikheev (1999) described the new species P. maschukense Mikheev from the foot of the Maschuk Mountain in the Russian part of Caucasus.

Tavakkoli and Assadi (2016) monographed Papaver in Iran, but did not mention the Iranian species P. pasquieri Dubuis & Faurel , which is accepted by POWO (2023) and Hassler (2023 b). Tavakkoli and Assadi (2016) also maintained P. bipinnatum C. A. Mey. as a synonym of P. arenarium M. Bieb. and treated P. lacerum as a synonym of P. commutatum Fisch., C. A. Mey. & Trautv. instead of P. laevigatum . Dar et al. (2010) described two new local species from near Srinagar in north-westernmost India and P. kachroianum Tabinda, Dar & Naqshi was only described from its holotype. Its etymology was explained as commemorating the botanist P. Kachroo and the orthography of the epithet is corrected to “ kachrooianum ” here according to the Code, Art. 60.8; Turland et al. (2018). Papaver pamporicum Tabinda, Dar & Naqshi was described from cultivated specimens originating from saffron fields in Pampore in the same area. Papaver stewartianum Jafri & Qaiser was described from Pakistan, based on the type specimen from grain fields at Campbellpore. It was described as a possible hybrid, but has been maintained by Jafri and Qaiser (2011) and is accepted by POWO (2023) and Hassler (2023 b).

Papaver maireii Batt. and P. malviflorum from North Africa, both previously included within P. dubium , were accepted by POWO (2023) and Hassler (2023 b), the former referring to flora treatments. The conclusion is that section Rhoediana includes 34 species and three subspecies.