Leopoldia oztasii Eker, Eroğlu & Pınar, 2024

Eroğlu, Hüseyin, Pinar, Süleyman Mesut & Eker, İsmail, 2024, A new Leopoldia (Asparagaceae, Scilloideae) species from South Anatolia-Türkiye: Leopoldia oztasii, Phytotaxa 633 (1), pp. 17-28 : 19

Leopoldia oztasii Eker, Eroğlu & Pınar sp. nov. ( Figs. 2–6 , Tables 1–2).

Type: — TÜRKİYE. Konya: Selçuklu, north of Sızma Village , 38° 05’ 30” N, 32° 28’ 05” E, stony steppe, 1570 m a.s.l., 23 May 2023, H. Eroğlu 2046 (Holotype VANF!; Isotypes VANF!, AIBU!) .

Paratypes: — TÜRKİYE. Konya: Selçuklu, north of Sızma Village , 38° 05’ 30” N, 32° 28’ 05” E, stony steppe, 1570 m a.s.l., 16 June 2023, H. Eroğlu 2067 (in fruit) ( VANF!, AIBU!) ; Between Konya-Beyşehir, Shell station , c. 1500 m a.s.l., 19 May 1971, K. Karamanoğlu et al. s.n. ( AEF 21365 !) .

Diagnosis: — Leopoldia oztasii is morphologically similar to L. tenuiflora , but differs by leaf, inflorescence, pedicel and fruit characteristics. It mainly differs from L. tenuiflora with its larger capsule (11–14 × 11–15 mm vs. 5–8 × 5–8 mm), pedicels of fertile flowers prominently elongated to 10–15 mm in fruit (vs. 1–8[–10] mm), shorter scape (5.5–16 cm vs. 10–50 cm), conical inflorescence, especially evident in fruit (vs. cylindrical in both flower and fruit), falcate leaves (vs. straight-spreading or spreading), larger bulb (3.2–6 × 2.5–5.5 cm vs. 3–4.5 × 2–4 cm), bigger seeds (2.5–3.1 × 2.1–2.5 mm vs. 1.7–2.5 × 1.5–2.3 mm), and capsule shape (broadly trigonous-orbicular vs. ovoid to globose).

Description: —Bulb ovoid globose, 3.2–6 × 2.5–5.5 cm, without bulblets. Outer tunics subcoriaceous, brown; middle tunics subcoriaceous, fawn and whitish dotted; inner tunics membranous, whitish. Leaves 4-7 per scape, narrowly linear lanceolate, falcate, reclining, canaliculate, 6–28 cm × 3–20 mm, green, glaucous especially beneath, scabrid only at margin, both surfaces glabrous, subacute to acute. Scape 1(–2) per bulb, 5.5–16 cm long (excluding inflorescence), not markedly elongating in fruit, shorter than leaves. Raceme 30–95-flowered, lax to moderately dense, conical, 4.5–9.5 × 2.7–4.1 cm in flower, 8.5–11 × 4.7–5.3 cm in fruit. Pedicels of fertile flowers 4–13 mm long, shorter or longer than perianth, patent to deflexed, prominently elongating to 10–15 mm in fruit, patent. Fertile flowers tubular-oblong, 6–9 × 2.5–4 mm, strongly shouldered and strongly constricted distally, orifice 1–1.5 mm wide, dark violaceous to indigo blue at early stage of flowering time (juvenile intermediate flowers) and turn to creamy-brown (matured fertile flowers), lobes c. 0.5 mm long, brownish black, recurved. Pedicels of sterile flowers 2–8 mm long, semierect to patent, longer or shorter than sterile flowers. Sterile flowers cylindrical to obconical, 1–7 × 1–3 mm, shorter than fertile ones, dark violaceous to indigo blue. Stamens biseriate, filaments 1.5–2 mm long, greenish, anthers lined up at the top of the tube, c. 1.5 mm long, purplish-black; pollen grains light yellow. Ovary green, ovoid, 2.5–3 × 1.5–2 mm; style greenish, 1.5–2 mm long. Capsule broadly trigonous-orbicular, distinctly emarginate, with strongly compressed wing-like valves, 11–14 × 11–15 mm. Seeds 2.5–3.1 × 2.1–2.5 mm, ovoid to globose; surface verrucate, black; anticlinal cell walls sunken, periclinal cell walls convex.

Distribution, habitat, and ecology: — Leopoldia oztasii is distributed in Konya province in Türkiye ( Fig. 1 ). The habitat of the L. oztasii is stony steppes ( Fig. 3 ). The flowering season of the species is late May and early June, and fruiting season is late June.

Eponymy: —The specific epithet of the new species was determined as “ oztasii ” to honor Prof. Dr. Haydar Öztaş for his contributions to the study.

Vernacular name: —The genus Leopoldia is known “ Morbaş ” in Turkish ( Eker 2022). The authors suggest the name of the species as “ Konya morbaşı ”, as it was first described from Konya province according to Menemen et al. (2016).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution map of Leopoldia oztasii and L. tenuiflora: red circle = L. oztasii; blue squares = L. tenuiflora (The map was prepared and colored by Büşra ARIK).

FIGURE 2. Leopoldia oztasii; a: habit, b: inflorescence, c: infructescence.

FIGURE 3. The habit of Leopoldia oztasii with its underground part in natural habitat (note: the size of the bulb is considerable).

FIGURE 4. Comparison of Leopoldia oztasii and L. tanuiflora; a–c: L. oztasii, d–f: L. tenuiflora, (a–d: habit, b–e: inflorescence, c–f: infructescence) (Photo “b” was taken by Haydar Öztaş, photo “d” was taken by Abdurrahman Sefalı and photo “e” was taken by Hasan Şişman).

FIGURE 5. Comparison of infructescences and capsules of two closely related species; A1–A2: L. oztasii, B1–B2: L. tenuiflora.

FIGURE 6. SEM photographs of seeds of two closely related species; a–d: L. oztasii, e–h: L. tenuiflora (a and e general view; b–d and f–h epidermal cells).