Legousia snogerupii Biel & Kit Tan, 2015

Tan, Kit, Biel, Burkhard & Sfikas, Giorgos, 2015, Legousia snogerupii (Campanulaceae), a new species from southeastern Kiklades, Greece, Phytotaxa 201 (1), pp. 63-70 : 64-69

Legousia snogerupii Biel & Kit Tan , sp. nov. Figs. 1‒2 , 4‒5 .

Type:― GREECE. Nomos Kikladon , Eparchia Thiras : island of Amorgos, large E-exposed cliff precipices of Krikelas, 650 m, 36°54’N, 26°03’E: seed collected in the wild, 4 July 1958, Runemark & Snogerup 12293 ; specimen cultivated in the Botanical Garden of the University of Lund under accession no. R 1729-2 , 29 April 1959, Runemark (holotype LD!) .

Herbaceous, ± glabrous annual 10‒20 cm tall. Stems simple or branched from base, lax, slender, flexuous, trailingprostrate to erect-ascending, 15‒35 cm long, narrowly and longitudinally ridged, glabrous or with a few short spreading hairs. Lower leaves with up to 20 mm long petioles, spathulate to broadly obovate, blade entire, not undulate, 10‒25 × 6‒12 mm, glabrous or sparsely aculeolate; upper cauline leaves ± sessile, ovate- to oblong-elliptic, 5‒20 × 2‒8 mm. Flowers few, always solitary in leaf axils, pedicellate to 10 mm. Calyx 5-fid, lobes 8‒12 mm, nearly equalling or shorter than ovary at anthesis, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, patent in flower and fruit, slightly thickened at margins, glabrous, scabrid-aculeolate or with a few bristles at apex. Corolla broadly campanulate, longer than calyx lobes, 10‒15(–18) mm long, (10–) 15‒21 mm across (in cultivation to 25 mm), 5-lobed, divided to ⅓ or ½, white; apical third (or less) sky-blue or bluish-mauve; lobes obtuse-rounded, apiculate-mucronate, glabrous or with a few scattered hairs. Stamens 5, filaments short, anthers free. Ovary cylindrical, (6–) 10‒15 mm at anthesis, 3-locular, ± glabrous; style puberulent; stigmas 3. Capsule erect, cylindrical, 15‒20 × 2.5‒3.6 mm, not narrowing at apex, glabrous, green suffused purple, dehiscing by 3 subapical upward-curving valves. Seeds numerous, flattened, elliptic-ovoid, 1.3‒1.4 × 0.8 mm, light brown, smooth, shiny.

The new species differs from both Legousia speculum-veneris and L. pentagonia by its lax habit with slender, flexuous, trailing stems (see Fig. 1 ), and always solitary flowers with blue and white corollas. From the first species it differs by its fewer, larger, broadly campanulate corollas, longer pedicels and capsules not narrowed at apex ( Fig. 4 ); from L. pentagonia , by the ± glabrous calyx lobes which are already patent-spreading in flowering state, and the glabrous ovary ( Fig. 2 ). Legousia speculum-veneris has a more erect habit, shorter pedicels, deep violet-purple subrotate corolla (limb flat-spreading), glabrous (or more rarely, densely hispid-pubescent) calyx and ovary and capsules narrowed at the apex ( Fig. 3 ). The calyx lobes in L. pentagonia are erect-ascending at anthesis, the stems, calyx and ovary usually hispid (rarely glabrous), with characteristic long white hairs, and the capsules are not narrowed at the apex. The morphological characters of the three species are compared in Table 1, and a key to the species is provided below.

1. Corolla sky-blue with white-central eye more than half the diameter of corolla; flowers always solitary on leaf axils; stems slender, flexuous, trailing ............................................................................................................................................................ L. snogerupii

– Corolla lilac or deep violet-purple with white-central eye less than one-third the diameter of corolla; flowers usually forming panicle, rarely solitary; stems erect or erect-ascending.....................................................................................................................2

2. Corolla broadly campanulate; calyx lobes c. ½ as long as ovary at anthesis; ovary hispid-pubescent or with long translucent hairs; capsule 20‒35 mm long, not narrowed at apex ............................................................................................................ L. pentagonia

– Corolla subrotate; calyx lobes ± equalling ovary at anthesis; ovary glabrous or hispid-pubescent, without long translucent hairs; capsule 10‒15 mm, narrowed at apex ................................................................................................................ L. speculum-veneris

Figures

FIGURE 1. Legousia snogerupii: holotype (Runemark & Snogerup 12293).

FIGURE 2. Legousia snogerupii and L. pentagonia: showing differences in corolla, calyx and ovary.

FIGURE 3. Legousia speculum-veneris from northern mainland Greece (Strid & Kit Tan 31344); arrow indicating capsule narrowed at apex.

FIGURE 4. Legousia snogerupii: capsule, not narrowed at apex.

FIGURE 5. Legousia snogerupii: distribution map.