Orobanche krylowii Beck

Frajman, Božo, Carlón, Luis, Kosachev, Petr, Pedraja, Óscar Sánchez, Schneeweiss, Gerald M. & Schönswetter, Peter, 2013, Phylogenetic position and taxonomy of the enigmatic Orobanche krylowii (Orobanchaceae), a predominatly Asian species newly found in Albania (SE Europe), Phytotaxa 137 (1), pp. 1-14 : 3-4

Orobanche krylowii Beck in Oesterr. Bot. Z. 31: 309. 1881 ["krylovii" (orthographic variant)] ≡ O. krylowii

Beck in Krylov, Mater. Fl. Perm. Gouv. 2: 202. 1881, nom. nud. (cf. Beck 1890: 171 "sine descript.") ≡ O.

major subsp. krylowii (Beck) Nyman, Consp. Fl. Eur., Suppl. 2: 243. 1890 ≡ O. major f. krylowii (Beck) Beck in

Biblioth. Bot. 19: 171 t. 3 f. 45(3). 1890.— Type: "514. Orob. major L. / f. O. Krylowi G. Beck / Leg. Porph .

Krylow. / Gubern. Perm.- Kynowski sawod / Beck / 130 [m. Beck]" (holotype, LE!). Iconography: Beck (1890) :

t. 3. f. 45(3).

= Orobanche krylowii f. puberula Krylov, Fl. Alt. : 997. 1907 ( Krylov 1907).— Type: "Na tayozhnyh lugah, okolo Pesczanogo / ozera, - v Temerchinskoj dache. / 20 ijunja 90 g. Sobr. P. Krylov" [on taiga clearings of the Temerchinski forest around lake Pesczanoe, leg. P. Krylov, 20.6.1890] (TK!), lectotype, designated here. "Okolo Pesczanogo ozera v Temerchinskoj / dache. 23 ijunja 1902 g. Sobr. P. Krylov" [around the lake Pesczanoe in the Temerchinski forest, leg. P. Krylov, 23.6.1902] (syntype, TK!). The locality is in the vicinity of Tomsk, village Golownino (N56.461258, E84.880857).

Note: it is not clear if the second specimen (syntype) actually belongs to O. krylowii , as the erect flowers with straight dorsal line and rather long calyx teeth are no typical for O. krylowii .

= Orobanche krylowii f. glaberrima Krylov, Fl. Alt. : 997. 1907 ( Krylov 1907)— Type : "Okr. Salairskogo rudn. i dr m. Tomsk. gub. / Sobral F. E. Zass / Posl. B Eks. №2" [vicinity of Salair mines in gubernija Tomsk (N54.286473, E85.928078) / Leg. F. E. Zass / exs. №2 sent to B—probably Beck]—two herbarium sheets (TK!), lectotype, designated here. "Okr. Tomska, blis rechki Maloj Kirgizki, smeschanny les. / 1 avg. 1899 g. Wydrin / Posl. G. Beck'u, №3" [vicinity of Tomsk, near the river Malaja Kirgizka (N56.55778, E85.072231), mixed forest / leg. Wydrin, 1.8.1899 / exs. №2 sent to G. Beck] (syntype, TK!).

– Orobanhe flava auct. [p.p. min.], non Orobanche flava Mart. ex F.W. Schultz., Beitr. Kenntn. Deutsch. Orob. : 9. 1829 (cf. Teryokhin et al. 1993, Schlauer et al. 2012)

Several authors (e.g., Chater & Webb 1972, Pignatti 1982, Domina & Raab-Straube 2010) reported O. elatior Sutton as parasitizing on " Thalictrum ", which was likely based on the fact that O. krylowii was considered conspecific with O. elatior .

≠ Orobanche krylowii var. mirabilis Serg. in Krylov, Fl. Zapadnoi Sibiri 10: 2545. 1939 ( Krylov 1939).– Type: "Semipalatinskaja gubernija, Buchtarminskii uesd, okrestnosti Katon-Karagaja, podnozhie Narymskogo chrebta, utschel'e ruczja Sernoj, 49 1/6 ºN 55 1 /10ºE, tschebnistye sklony. 22 ijulja 1928. P. Krylow and L. Sergievskaya" [ Republic Kazachstan , Vostochno-Kazachstanskaya oblast : Semipalatinskaja gubernija, Buchtarminskii region , surroundings of Katon-Karagaja , foot of Mts. Narymskogo , gorge of the stream Sernoj , 49 1/6 ºN 55 1 /10ºE, cliffs. Leg. P. Krylow & L. Sergievskaya, 22.7.1928] (holotype, TK!)

Taxonomic remarks: as forms with ( f. glaberrima ) and without ( f. puberula ) glandular hairs in the inflorescence were only recognized by Krylov (1907) and later neglected, and as all plants seen by us are glandular, we consider the glabrous form an exception known only from its type locality and of no taxonomic value. The current taxonomic status of O. krylowii var. mirabilis , allegedly parasitic on Iris ruthenica , is unclear. As the type specimen of O. krylowii var. mirabilis has almost glabrous filaments lacking the dense and almost evenly distributed indumentum characteristic for O. krylowii , the bracts and scales are shorter and the inflorescence laxer, the corolla has a different, narrowly tubular shape and exhibits strongly irregularly toothed corolla lobes, we believe that it does not belong to O. krylowii but likely to the O. minor group. It should also be noted that the specimen most likely was not parasitic on Iris , as no clear connections between the roots of Iris and Orobanche are visible.

Description: Plant light yellow or whitish, with an evenly distributed indumentum of short glandular and eglandular hairs; stems slender, up to 45 cm high, less than 7 mm in diameter; scale leaves elongated triangular-lanceolate, more abundant towards the almost unswollen stem base; inflorescence with usually fewer than 20 erecto-patent flowers forming a spike that is not very dense and is limited to the upper third of the stem; bracts narrow lanceolate, approximately equaling the flowers in length, early withering to brown and then vividly contrasting the rest of the plant; calyx about ½ as long as the corolla, segments free, often entire, with one pair of shortly subulated teeth strongly reduced or absent; corolla up to 20 mm long, tubular, strongly constricted below the insertion of the stamens, with short light glandular hairs, its dorsal line regularly curved (but straight near the apex), its tube about 5 mm wide and about 3 times as long as the lips; upper lip slightly emarginate, porrect (continuing the dorsal line of the corolla tube); lower lip 3-lobed, with divergent, spathulate, somewhat concave and finely irregularly denticulate margin; stamens inserted at about ¼ of the total corolla length, the 10 mm long filaments beset with abundant, long, eglandular white hairs almost to the apex and scant short glandular hairs below the anthers; anthers light brown to pinkish-brown, with short hairs along the sutures of thecae; ovary whitish, with a yellow nectary at its base, glabrous or glabrescent with scant hairs at the apex; style whitish, with very sparse (more abundant on the upper part) short glandular hairs; stigma bright yellow, very slightly 2-lobed, with a flat or widely concave distal surface, crowning the style in an almost reniform to disciform funnel-like structure. Iconography and photos of Orobanche krylowii from Albania are shown in Figs. 2 and 3 .

Host and habitat: Parasitic exclusively on Thalictrum L. species [on Thalictrum minus L., s.l. (cf. Krylov et al. 1939: 2545, Tzvelev 1981: 334)] ( Carlón et al. 2013b). Forest clearings, sparse mixed and coniferous forests, in Albania also slightly above the timberline.

Distribution: Europe: Alpet Shqiptare in Albania, southern and eastern Volga-Kama (Republic Tatarstan) and Trans-Volga region in Russia. Asia: Western (southern Ob, upper Tobol and Irtysh rivers systems as well as Altai mountains: Altai Krai, Kemerovo Oblast, Tomsk Oblast, Tyumen Oblast) and Eastern Siberia (Krasnoyarsk Krai, Republic of Khakassia, Tyva Republic, Angara-Sayan river system: Buryatia Republic and Irkutsk Oblast) in Russia, Central Asia (Tien Shan, Tarbagatai Mountains) in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia ( Novopokrovskii & Tzvelev 1958, Tzvelev 1981, Grubov et al. 2006, Kurbatskij 2007, Kosachev 2013). It has also been reported for Dzungaria (Xinjiang) in China, but no material has been found in Chinese herbaria (cf. Zhang & Tzvelev 1998). The distribution map presented in Fig. 4 is based on our own as well as the literature data (see Appendix).

Nature conservation: The species is uncommon in the major part of its distribution area and is included in the red data lists of the Baikal region and Irkutsk ( Ivanova 1999, 2010). Any categorization of threat of the Albanian population of O. krylowii following the IUCN (2013) categories is strongly dependent on the size of the species' regional distribution and/or the number of populations. As currently only a single, albeit individual-rich and not endangered population is known, we here provisionally suggest the category CE (critically endangered). Future field research will show if more populations will be found, which should translate into a change of categorization. We have recorded O. krylowii on two localities along the path from the village Dragobi to Mt. Maja Hekuraves in the Alpet Shqiptare. These localities are about 500 m apart and it is likely that additional populations thrive in this remote side valley of the Valbona valley.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Iconography of Orobanche krylowii from Albania.

FIGURE 3. Photos of Orobanche krylowii from Albania with its host Thalictrum minus.

FIGURE 4. Distribution of Orobanche krylowii based on the examined herbarium material and photos (big dots) as well as literature data (small dots). The locality in Albania is marked with a triangle.