Muscari atillae Yıldırım, 2015

Yildirim, Hasan, 2015, Muscari atillae (Asparagaceae): a new species from Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Phytotaxa 213 (3), pp. 291-295 : 291-294

Muscari atillae Yıldırım sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 – 2 )

Type:— TURKEY. B 7 Malatya: Akçadağ district, Levent Canyon, west of Çayözü village, on marlstone-calcareous slopes, 1185 m of elevation, 10 April 2014, H. Yıldırım 2800 (holotype EGE!, isotypes ANK!, EGE!, GAZI!, NGBB!).

Bulb globose to ovoid, 8 – 14 mm in diameter, with or without bulblets. Outer tunics papery, pale dull brown to brown; inner tunics pinkish white to creamy white. Leaves 2 – 3, linear-lanceolate, mostly patent, 3 – 7 × 0.3 – 0.5 cm, canaliculate to subflattened, sometimes purplish suffused, glabrous, acute. Scape 1, 3 – 8 cm long, overtopping leaves. Raceme lax, ovate to cylindrical, 1 – 2 × 1 – 1.5 cm; number of fertile flowers 2–11(–19), number of sterile flowers 2–6(–8). Pedicels of sterile flowers to 0.5 mm. Sterile flowers narrowly obovate-oblong, 1 – 3.5 mm long, very pale violet to ice blue sometimes ivory-white. Pedicels to 1 mm long, elongating in fruit to 2 mm. Fertile flowers ovoid to ovoid-tubular, hardly constricted distally, 3 – 4.5 × 2 – 3.5 mm, blackish to very dark purplish; lobes 0.3–0.5 mm long, pale yellowish-white to cream-white, erect to slightly recurved with recurved cucullate and papillate apex. Stamen sub-biseriate, filaments 0.3–0.5 mm long, arising below the middle of the tube; anthers and pollen purplish-blue;. Ovary yellowishgreen, subglobose, ca. 1 mm long; style cream, ca. 1 mm long; stigma punctate. Capsule broadly ovate to orbicular, obtuse or emarginate, 4 – 8 × 7 – 12 mm, valves compressed. Seeds 3–5 per capsule, 1.5 – 2 2 mm, ovoid-globose; surface smooth, pruinose, black. Flowering and fruiting in March–April.

Etymology:—The new species is named in honour of Atilla Yıldırım, brother of the author, who first collected the new species.

Suggested conservational status:—Approximately 900 individuals were observed in the population of Muscari atillae . No anthropogenic or grazing effects were observed on the population. Following the criteria laid out by the IUCN (2011), the plant is categorized as ‘Vulnerable’ (VU D1), on account of its total individuals number.

Distribution and Ecology:— Muscari atillae is known only from a very restricted area between 1100 and 1250 m of elevation in Levent Canyon in Malatya Province, eastern Anatolia. It grows on marly-calcareous soil produced as the result of the corrosion of large marly-calcareous bare rocks and cliff walls in Levent Canyon. It is an element belonging to the Iranian-Turanian floristic region.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes):— TURKEY. B7 Malatya: Akçadağ district, Levent Canyon, west of Çayözü village , on marlstone-calcareous slopes, 1203 m of elevation, 18 May 2011 H. Yıldırım 1826 ( EGE!) ; Akçadağ district, Levent Canyon, west of Çayözü village , on marlstone-calcareous slopes, 1213 m of elevation, 12 April 2012, H. Yıldırım 2269 ( EGE!) .

Taxonomic relationships:— M. atillae shows general aspect similar to M. discolor and M. anatolicum . However, M. atillae is easily distinguished by its mostly 2 or sometimes 3 and shorter leaves, shorter and ovoid-tubular fertile flowers, lax raceme, fewer flowers, and yellowish-white to cream white lobes, without or very short whitish zone on the upper part of tube. Also it is easily distinguished from M. neglectum for its 2 or sometimes 3, 3–7 cm long, mostly sub flattened leaves; lax raceme and fever flower; scape with raceme 3–8 cm long, longer than leaves; stamens sub-biseriate, below middle of tube; 2–6(–8) sterile flowers (not up to 20).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Muscari atillae: habit (A), flower (B), apex of perigone lobe (C), stamens and ovary and position of them in flower (D), capsule (E), SEM photographs of pollen grain and pollen surface (F–G–H), SEM photographs of seed and seed surface (J–K–L).

FIGURE 2. Muscari atillae: habit and habitat (A–B–C), flower (D), capsule (E), seeds (F).