Cousinia deluensis Attar, Mozaffarian & Mirtadzadini, 2018

Rastegar, Azad, Attar, Farideh & Mirtadzadini, Mansour, 2018, Novelties in Iranian Cousinia sect. Cynaroideae (Asteraceae, Cardueae): new taxa and taxonomic notes, Phytotaxa 343 (3), pp. 227-239 : 231

2. Cousinia deluensis Attar, Mozaffarian & Mirtadzadini , sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 ).

Type:— IRAN. Fars: Shiraz, Darengun, Kuh-e Delu , 1850–2200 m, 20 April 2003, Mozaffarian 83638 (holotype TARI; isotype Herbarium Mirtadzadini) .

Monocarpic, up to 40 cm high. Stems whitish, loosely arachnoid, glabrescent and winged, leafless under inflorescence. Leaves loosely arachnoid on both surfaces, upper side green, lower grayish; basal leaves oblanceolate, pinnatifidpinnatisected, with wide midrib, terminal segment larger than lateral segments, lobes terminating to a spine ca. 6 mm long; stem leaves long-decurrent, oblanceolate-oblong, with spines ca. 9 mm long. Capitulum single, umbilicate, ca. 70-flowered; involucre 2 cm in diam. (excluding spines), or up to 6 cm in diam. (including spines), rounded-ovate, constricted above, loosely arachnoid; bracts ca. 50, 5–6-seriate, appendiculate; appendages narrowly lanceolate, with 1–2 fine spines on both sides, gradually attenuated toward apex into a sharp point; appendage of median bracts 20× 3 mm; appendage of outer bracts smaller, triangular, auriculate, 6× 2 mm; innermost bracts exappendiculate, acute and ciliate at margin. Bristles of receptacle smooth. Corolla ca. 22 mm, tube as long as limb; lobes 3–5 mm long; anther tubes glabrous, concolored; apical anther appendages asymmetric, abruptly terminated. Mature achenes unknown.

Conservation status:—The extent of occurrence is less than 1 km 2, and the area of occupancy is ca. 10 km 2. Based on these data, C. deluensis may be potentially assessed as Critically Endangered.

Etymology:—The specific epithet refers to the type locality in Delu Mt., S Iran.

Phytochoria:—Irano-Turanian ( Zohary 1973, Takhtajan 1986).

Phenology:—Flowering, April–May; Fruiting, May–June.

Distribution:—Endemic to Iran ( Fig. 6 )

Additional specimens examined:— IRAN. Fars: Shiraz, Darengun, Mt. Delu, 1882 m, 6 June 2014, F. Bordbar 1733 (Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Herbarium Mirtadzadini).

Discussion:— Cousinia deluensis has similarities with C. kotschyi Boissier (1846: 120) but differs from the latter by its smaller involucre, elongated appendages of median phyllaries, phyllary shape, indumentum, and habit ( Table 1). An interesting character of C. deluensis is asymmetric apical anther appendages ( Fig. 4b ), which we found unique among the species of C. sect. Cynaroideae in SW Iran.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Holotype of Cousinia deluensis.

FIGURE 4. The shape of apical anther appendages in some species of Cousinia sect. Cynaroideae. a. C. boyerahmadica. b. C. deluensis. c. C. barbeyi. d. C. bornmulleri. e. C. denaensis. f. C. farsistanica. g. C. pasargadensis. h. C. persepolitanus. i. C. masulehensis. j. C. canescens.

FIGURE 6. Distribution map of the new and newly reported taxa.