Convolvulus iranicus J.R.I.Wood & R.W.Scotland, 2015

Wood, John R. I., Williams, Bethany R. M., Mitchell, Thomas C., Carine, Mark A., Harris, David J. & Scotland, Robert W., 2015, A foundation monograph of Convolvulus L. (Convolvulaceae), PhytoKeys 51, pp. 1-282 : 158-159

143. Convolvulus iranicus J.R.I.Wood & R.W.Scotland sp. nov. Figures 2d and 19, t. 24-31

Diagnosis.

Convolvulus acanthocladi Boiss. & Kotschy similis sed sepalis parvioribus, 4-4.5 (non 7-10) mm longis, tenuiter pilosis, floribus solitariis, corolla valde breviore (1.5-1.7 cm non usque 2.5 cm) longa, ramis brunneolis, pubescentibus pilis disperses, adpressis, non albo-canescentibus.

Type.

IRAN, Fars province, 20 km from Shiraz along road to Bushehr, 26 Jun 1972, Reino Alava & M.H. Bokhari 10629 (holotype W!; isotypes E00456799!, TUR, not seen).

Description.

Much branched, spiny woody undershrub forming a compact intricate bushlet c. 20-25 cm high, young stems pale brown with appressed hairs. Branch tips spinescent, lateral spines present, formed from old fertile and (towards the branch tips) sterile peduncles. Leaves sessile, 7-10 × 3-4 mm, oblanceolate to obovate, obtuse, entire, attenuate at the base, appressed pubescent with whitish hairs. Flowers solitary, axillary; bracts resembling reduced leaves, 2-3 × 1.5-2 mm, oblong-elliptic, obtuse; peduncles 12-14 mm, straight, rigid, spinescent, arising at 90° from the branch, appressed pubescent; bracteoles c. 0.25 mm, minute, filiform; pedicels 1-1.5 mm, often bent at 90° to the peduncle, distinctly more densely pubescent with spreading hairs that the peduncle; outer sepals 4-4.5 × 3 mm, elliptic-rhomboid, acute to shortly acuminate, thinly pilose, often (?always) purplish, inner sepals c. 4 × 1.5 mm, colourless, very thinly pilose; corolla 1.5-1.7 cm, base somewhat inflated, colour unknown, midpetaline bands densely pilose; filaments glabrous, anthers 1.25 mm, ovary subglobose, c. 1 mm, thinly pilose; style 5 mm long, pilose, stigmas 2 mm, slightly widened apically. Capsule and seeds unknown.

Distribution.

Only known from the type.

Notes.

Most similar to Convolvulus acanthocladus but indumentum much less dense, the stem brown and thinly adpressed-pubescent rather than grey-sericeous, the corolla and sepals much shorter, the sepals more or less rhomboid being widest in the middle and gradually narrowed to the apex. The flowers appear always to be solitary.

This species is only known from a single collection. It may be rare and threatened or simply overlooked but for the time being should be classified as Data Deficient (DD) within IUCN (2012) guidelines. Nothing is known of its habitat except that it grows on a hillside. The epithet " iranicus " refers to Iran, to which this species is endemic.