Bellevalia koyuncui Karabacak & Yıldırım, 2015

Karabacak, Osman, Yildirim, Hasan & Martin, Esra, 2015, Bellevalia koyuncui sp. nova (Asparagaceae): a new species from South Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Phytotaxa 203 (1), pp. 81-84 : 81-83

Bellevalia koyuncui Karabacak & Yıldırım , sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 )

Type:— TURKEY. B9 Siirt: Şirvan, Nallıkaya köyüne 5 km kala, step, 1286 m, 13 April 2014, O. Karabacak 9040 (holotype EGE!; isotype GAZI!, ANK!) .

Bulb globose-ovoid, c. 2 cm diameter, outer tunic coriaceous and brownish, inner tunic papery and light brownish. Leaves 3–5(–6), linear lanceolate, as long as or longer than scape, 7–25 × 0.2–0.6 cm, dark green, mostly flat or slightly canaliculate, patent to slightly erecto-patent; margins narrowly cartilaginous, smooth or sometimes scaberulous. Scape one, 7–17 cm long, green. Raceme cylindrical at flowering and fruiting time; (1–) 1.5–5 cm long, elongating to c. 8 cm in fruiting time, rachis bluish-green to pale green; bracts entire, minute, creamy-white to bluish, triangular to oblong; flowers arrangement alternate and spiral; pedicels 1\2 to as long as perigone, distinctly recurved, up to 5 mm long in flowering time; patent to erecto-patent and up to 8 mm in fruiting time; flowers (10–)15–70, 3.5–5 mm long, subcubical campanulate to oblong campanulate; perigone sky-blue in bud and starting flowering, changing to pale yellowish to creamy-white in mature stage; tube 2.5–3 mm long; lobes pale brown to brown at apex, 1.5–2 mm long, nearly 1\2 to tube, subequal, ovate-lanceolate; stamens reaching the apex of lobes and visible at the mouth of the flower, basally not connate; filaments attached just below the base of perigone lobes, as long as anthers, 1 × 0.5–0.75 mm; anther yellowish. Capsule valves half-moon shaped, cordate to broadly elliptic, triquetrous, 5–7 mm diam., 5–7 mm long; valves thin, elliptic, retuse at apex; dehiscent, persistent. Seeds subglobose to ellipsoid, smooth, 2–2.5 mm, black, shiny. Flowering time from April to May.

Distribution and Ecology:— Bellevalia koyuncui is endemic to Şirvan district in Siirt, South Eastern Anatolia. It grows in steppe, at 1280 m of altitude. It is an element belonging to the Irano-Turanian floristic region.

Etymology:—The new species is named after the Turkish botanist Mehmet Koyuncu, expert in bulbous plants.

Taxonomic relationships:—Although B. koyuncui has no close relatives, it appears slightly related to B. fominii Woronow (1927: 617) by having yellowish anthers and pale brownish to brown perigone lobe apices, on the abaxial side. However, B. fominii is easily distinguished from all other Bellevalia species for its blackish perigone lobe apices. On the other hand, B. koyuncui differs from B. fominii for the narrower leaves 2–6 mm (not 8–17 mm) wide; the shorter scape (7–17 cm, not 15–40 cm long), raceme [(1–)1.5–5, not 10–25 cm long] and perigone (3.5–5 mm, not 6–8 mm long); the flower buds sky blue (not dark violet).

Karyology:—Our study showed 2n = 2x = 8 + 2B for B. koyuncui ( Fig. 1C ). It seems that the presence of two B chromosomes is a constant feature for B. koyuncui , while B. fominii was always reported as having 2n = 2x = 8 chromosomes, with no Bs ( Bothmer & Wendelbo 1981, Özhatay & Johnson 1996, Johnson & Brandham 1997, Nersesian 2001, Johnson 2003).

Additional specimens examined (paratypes):— Turkey B9 Siirt: Şirvan, Nallıkaya köyüne 5 km kala, step, 1286 m, 25 April 2011, O. Karabacak 7990 (GAZI!).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Bellevalia koyuncui A. iconography: habit (A), flower (B), stamens and ovary, position of these elements in the flowers (C), capsule (D, E). B. individual in natural habitat. C. Somatic chromosomes. Bar: 10 μm.