Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii Çıngay & Cabi, 2018

Çingay, Burçin, Demir, Ogün & Cabi, Evren, 2018, Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii (Scrophulariaceae), a new species from southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, Phytotaxa 372 (4), pp. 263-272 : 264-268

Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii Çıngay & Cabi sp. nov. ( Fig. 1–2 )

Type: ― TURKEY. C 9 Hâkkari: 11 km north of Hâkkari, Berçelan Yaylası, riverside, limestone rocks, 2779 m elevation, 17 July 2015, B. Çıngay 5317, F. A. Karavelio ğ lu, H. Tek & A. Akbaba (holotype: NGBB 4801!, isotypes: ANK!, CBB!).

Diagnosis: ― Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii can be easily distinguished by its inflorescence bearing upper bracts 1-flowered and lower bracts 2–3-flowered (neither all bracts many-flowered nor all bracts 1-flowered); glandular-stellate indumentum all over the stem; upper cauline leaves crenulate-serrate; lower bracts oblong-lanceolate; all anthers reniform, the 2 anterior oblique-inserted, ca. 1–2 mm long; capsule globose with stellate-glandular hairs. This combination of characters is unique among the Turkish species of the genus, and it therefore permits easy identification ( Table 1).

isandrum.

Description: ―Hard and rough biennial herbs. Stem 30–150 cm tall, purplish, robust, single or usually with a few short branches above middle, terete, angular-striate, covered all over with glandular-stellate hairs. Leaves alternate, mostly condesed at base in a dense persistent rosette, upper and lower surface covered with dense white stellate hairs; basal leaves with petiole 2–6 cm long, blade 5–25 × 1–6 cm, dark green when fresh, purplish brown when dried, lanceolate, indistinctly crenulate-serrate, acute, cuneate at base; cauline leaves decreasing in size toward flowering part of stem; lower cauline leaves sessile or with petiole up to 1 cm long, blade 5–8 × 1.5–2 cm, lanceolate, acute, crenulate-serrate, upper cauline leaves sessile, blade 0.5–1.5 × 2.5–4.5 cm, lanceolate-ovate, acute to acuminate at apex, crenulate–serrate. Inflorescence with numerous branches, forming lax, pyramidal panicle, with clusters 1–2 (–3) flowers. Upper bracts lanceolate to linear, acuminate, 3–10 mm long, 1-flowered. Lower bracts oblong–lanceolate, 2.5–6 cm long, 2–3-flowered. Pedicels 5–15 mm long, ebracteolate. Calyx 3–5 mm long, lobes oblong-lanceolate, mucronate. Corolla yellow, 10–15 mm in diameter, without pellucid glands, glandular-stellate outside. Stamens 5, fertile, all anthers reniform, 2 anterior ones oblique-inserted, ca. 1–2 mm long; 2 anterior filaments covered with purple-violet wool, glabrous near apex, 3 posterior ones with purple-violet wool in the lower ¾, whitish above. Pollen grains radially symmetrical, isopolar, prolate- spheroidal, and tricolporate ( Table 2, Fig. 3C–D ). Capsule globose, 5–7 × 4–6 mm, covered with stellate glandular hairs ( Fig. 4 ). Seeds rod-shaped, ca. 0.7 × 0.9 mm, reddish-brown to brown, transversally corrugated ( Fig. 3A–B ).

Eponymy: ―The new Verbascum species honours Dr. Faik Karavelioğuları, who passed away on 5 January 2018 at the age of 50, as a consequence of brain haemorrhage. He was an eminent scholar and researcher of the flora of Turkey and a world authority on the genus Verbascum . The Turkish name of the newly described species is given as “Yadigâr sığırkuyruğu”, according to the guidelines of Menemen et al. (2013).

Habitat and ecology: ― Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii grows on deep limestone rocky slopes ( Fig. 1A ), at 2700–2800 m elevation near Hâkkari, where it endures harsh climate conditions. Hâkkari province has a continental climate (Köppen 1936). Winter is cold and snowy with an average of –5 °C; summer is hot and dry with an average of 25 °C. Climate classification of this province according to Thornthwaite (1948) method is B1 (humid), B’1 (mesothermal), s2 (summer deficient in rainfall), b’2 (Summer PE concentration % 61).

The new species occurs on calcareous limestone rocky slopes with chasmophytic vegetation, whereas the morphologically similar V. afyonense is found in Quercus scrub and pastures, and V. spectabile var. isandrum occurs in rocky limestone slopes, Quercus scrub and pastures. Species growing in the near vicinity of V. faik-karaveliogullarii include Thymus pubescens Boiss. & Kotschy ex Čelakovskı (1883: 152) , Tanacetum kotschyi ( Boissier 1846: 88) Grierson (1975: 435) , Campanula glomerata Linnaeus (1753: 166) , Cephalaria sparsipilosa Matthews (1972: 596) , Papaver setiferum Goldblatt (2011: 182) , Consolida orientalis Schrödinger (1909: 27, 62), and Silene chlorifolia Smith (1789: pl. 13).

Phenology: ―The new species flowers in June, and fruits are produced in August.

Distribution and biogeography: ― Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii is a local endemic limited to calcareous, rocky areas of Berçalan Plateau in Hâkkari, southeastern Anatolia ( Fig. 5 ), which together with other representatives of the genus can be regarded as representative of the Southeastern Anatolian province, Irano-Turanian region (Takhtajan 1986). Therefore, further prospective effort is to be developed on high plateau and limestone rocky palace areas of the surrounding territories in the cited biogeographical region in order to locate eventual new populations of the new species.

Suggested conservational status: ― Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii Çıngay & Cabi is known only from Hâkkari in southeastern Anatolia, Turkey ( Fig. 5 ). To our current knowledge, the area of occupancy of the new species can be estimated to be less than 10 km 2, in which about 600 individuals are estimated to occur. Overgrazing by sheep and goat herds on individuals nearby to soil level was observed. Therefore, it should be classified as “Critically Endangered” (CR), on the basis of criterion [CR B2a(ii)+b(iii)] of the IUCN threat categories ( IUCN 2014) on account of its restricted distribution and anthropogenic effects on the population.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii in Hâkkari, southeastern Anatolia, Turkey (type locality). A) Plant in habitat, limestone rocks; B) Basal leaves; C) Inflorescences; D) Flowers; E–F) Fruits in clusters.

FIGURE 2. Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii. A) Basal leaves; B) Upper surface of basal leaves; C) Stem and inflorescence; D) Surface of stem leaves; E) Seed; F–G) Stamens; H) Gynoecium; I) Cluster of fruits; J) Adnation of stamens to corolla. (Drawings by Nihan Şişli).

FIGURE 3. Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii. A) Seed rod-shaped; B) Transversally corrugated textured; C) Equatorial view of pollen grain; D) Exine ornamentation.

FIGURE 4. Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii. A–B) Stellate hair of capsule indumentum; C–D) Glandular hair of capsule indumentum.

FIGURE 5. Distribution of Verbascum faik-karaveliogullarii (square), V. afyonense (stars) and V. spectabile var. isandrum (circles) in Turkey.