Allium urusakiorum Özhatay, Seregin & N.Friesen, 2016

Koçyiğit, Mine, Seregin, Alexey P., Özhatay, Neriman & Friesen, Nikolai, 2016, Allium urusakiorum (Amaryllidaceae), a new member of the Balkan clade of the section Oreiprason from European Turkey, Phytotaxa 275 (3), pp. 228-242 : 235-237

Allium urusakiorum Özhatay, Seregin & N.Friesen sp. nov. ( Fig. 6 )

From the closely related A. rubriflorum and A. austrodanubiense differs for the shorter tepals, 3.5–4.0 mm long (vs. inner tepals distinctly> 4.0 mm long) and white flowers (vs. purplish, rose, or yellowish). From the Caucasian A. saxatile differs for the yellow young anthers (vs. brick red or violet) and longer pedicels.

Type: — TURKEY: A 1 ( E): Kırklareli: Demirköy, Mahya Mt, Sarpdere village, 358 m, 3 October 2009, E. Akalın Urusak & Y. Yeşil (holotype, ISTE 92497!).

Stems usually clustered, attached to a short rhizome, 20–60 cm high, 1.5–2.0 mm in diameter, cylindrical. Bulb-like base of the stem (false bulb, or “bulb”) 0.5–1.5 cm in diameter, 2–3.5(–4.0) cm long, ovoid-cylindrical; outermost tunics brown to red-brown, coriaceous, somewhat splitting lengthwise into strips; inner tunics light brown, membranous. Leaves 3–7, filiform, 0.5–1.0 mm wide, 5–20 cm long, canaliculate, sheathing the lower 1/3 to 1/4 of the stem. Top leaves green in the beginning of anthesis, almost dry at the end of anthesis, longer than scape. Spathe bivalved, persistent; valves unequal, the longer 15–30 mm long with a long filiform beak, the shorter 5–8 mm long; beak 3–5 veined. Umbel hemispherical to subglobose in anthesis, 15–20 mm in diameter in anthesis, larger in fruiting, 15–35- flowered, subglobose or hemispherical; pedicels 5–15 mm long, subequal in anthesis, elongate in fruit, bracteolate. Flowers 1.5–2(–3) times shorter than pedicels. Perigone campanulate; tepals slightly unequal, 3.5–4.0 mm long, 1.5– 2.0 mm wide, white with a light green vein, elliptic-ovate, acute inner ones slightly longer than outers. Stamens long exserted; filaments filiform, white, slightly widened at base, 1.5–2 times longer than tepals. Anthers 0.8–1.0 mm long, yellow; fully dehisced anthers dark yellow, adnate to tepals; oblong, rounded at apex. Ovary subglobose-oblong, yellowish-green, 0.8–1.0×1.0– 1.5 mm. Style exserted, almost as long as stamens, white. Capsule globose-rhomboid, 3.0–4.0× 3.5–4.5 mm. Valves of capsule rhomboid-ovate. Seeds black, angled, 2 mm long.

Etymology:—The epithet “ urusakiorum ” originates from the surname of Emine Akalın Uruşak and her husband Uğur Uruşak, who collected many Allium specimens around Turkey during their excursions, including the first collection of the new species.

Flowering time:—August to September depending on weather conditions.

Habitat:—Dry limestone rocky places, 225–460 m above sea level ( Fig. 7 ).

Distribution:— Allium urusakiorum is distributed in the NE of the European Turkey ( Fig. 8 ), in Euro-Siberian phytogeographical region. It is known from two localities mentioned below in specimen labels. For neighbouring Bulgaria, Assyov et al. (2012) have reported ‘ A. saxatile ’ for several regions. Revision by Seregin et al. (2015) have shown that these records should be interpreted as A. austrodanubiense and to some extent as A. rubriflorum . Considering that A. urusakiorum was collected in NW Turkey, we could assume that a report of ‘ A. saxatile ’ by Assyov et al. (2012) from adjacent Strandzha Mts. in SE Bulgaria might also refer to this species. As far as we could trace, this record is based on ‘ A. globosum ’ from Northern Strandzha by Hermann (1936). Unfortunately, Hermann did not provide any locality details and no voucher specimen was found in his collection deposited in GAT. Also, there is no supporting material from Strandzha in the major Bulgarian herbaria (SO, SOA, and SOM).

Additional specimens examined (paratypes):— TURKEY: A1 ( E): Kırklareli: Demirköy, Dupnisa Cave , 458 m, 26 October 2009, E. Akalın Uruşak, Y. Yeşil & M. Koçyiğit ( ISTE 93421 !) ; ibidem, 260 m, 20 July 2010, N. Özhatay, E. Özhatay, E. Akalın Uruşak & M. Koçyiğit ( ISTE 93422 !) ; ibidem, 4 October 2015, M. Koçyiğit ( ISTE 109445 !) .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Allium urusakiorum: fruiting umbel (A), flowering umbel (B), bulb-like bases of stems (C).

FIGURE 7. Habitat of Allium urusakiorum.

FIGURE 8. Distribution of Allium urusakiorum.