Erysimum polatschekii Moazzeni, Assadi & Al-Shehbaz, 2016

Moazzeni, Hamid, Assadi, Mostafa, Zare, Golshan & Mirtadzadini, Mansour, 2016, Taxonomic novelties in Erysimum for the Flora of Iran: E. polatschekii, a new alpine endemic, and E. scabrum, a new record, Phytotaxa 269 (1), pp. 47-53 : 48-50

Erysimum polatschekii Moazzeni, Assadi & Al-Shehbaz , sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 , map 1)

TYPE: IRAN. Kerman: [Baft], Gugher, mt. Bondar , 3350 m, 27 June 1995, M. Mirtadzadini 31823 (holotype, TUH; isotypes: FUMH, Kerman university herbarium-Mirtadzadini’s collection) .

Plants cespitose perennial. Stems up to 10 cm high, numerous; trichomes dense, 2-rayed (malpighiaceous). Basal leaves spatulate-oblanceolate, 1–3 cm × 1–2 mm, acute at apex, entire at margin, attenuate at base, densely covered with 2+(3)+((4))-rayed trichomes. Cauline leaves sessile, lanceolate, entire to pinnate, 15–50 × (1–) 3–5 mm, acute at apex, attenuate at base, with 2+(3)-rayed trichomes. Raceme up to 12-flowered, ebracteate; fruiting pedicels ascending at 30–45º angle, 2.5–5 mm, with 2+(3)-rayed trichomes. Sepals oblong, ca. 5 mm, with 2+3-rayed trichomes. Petals yellow or purple, sometimes both in the same flower, 9–11 × 2–3 mm, glabrous. Fruits dehiscent siliques, 2.5–5 cm × ca. 1 mm, ascending, densely covered with (2)+3+((4))-rayed trichomes; style ca. 1 mm, with (2)+3+4-rayed trichomes; stigma clearly bilobed. Seeds winged at top, oblong, ca. 2 × 1 mm; cotyledons accumbent.

Distribution: endemic (Kerman, S Iran).

Phenology: June (flowering period), July (fruiting period).

Additional specimens examined (paratypes):

IRAN: Kerman Province, ca. 110 km S Kerman, [Baft] Amir Abad Gugher village , M. Mirtadzadini, 23453 ( TUH; Kerman university herbarium-Mirtadzadini’s collection). NW Ravar, Feiz Abad, toward waterfall, 20 April 2002, M. Mirtadzadini, s. n. (Kerman university herbarium-Mirtadzadini’s collection)

Distribution and ecology— Endemic to the alpine zone of Mt. Bondar in Kerman Province, growing on scree at elevations of 2500–3350 m.

Etymology— Erysimum polatschekii is named after the late Prof. Adolf Polatschek (1932–2015), an Austrian botanist who spent most of his life working on Erysimum and recently published its revision in several papers ( Polatschek 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013a, b, 2014).

Remarks: Erysimum polatschekii is morphologically similar to E. purpureum and E. pseudopurpureum in habit, lax inflorescences, and petal length. However, it is readily distinguished from them by having bicolored flowers (yellow, purple, or both on one flower: purple distally and yellow proximally), distinctly bilobed stigma, different fruit indumentum, and winged seeds (see Table 1). This is the second report of bicolored flowers in Erysimum in Iran; the first was in E. hezarense Moazzeni (in Moazzeni et al. 2014a: 242). Both species with bicolored flowers (i.e., E. polatschekii and E. hezarense ) grow in Kerman Province, within which isolated mountain ranges represent centers for local endemism. Although the literature on the breeding systems in Erysimum is sparse, it seems that floral color changed in response to pollinators’ behavior ( Ollerton et al. 2007).

Conservation status— The new species is known so far only from Mt. Gugher at elevations above 2500 m, and its distribution is very narrow both altitudinally and geographically. Consequently, the risk of local extinction is rather high. For these reasons, E. polatschekii is here assessed as vulnerable (VU) according to IUCN Red List criteria ( IUCN 2013).

FIGURE 2. Distribution of Erysimum polatchekii and its close allies in Iran and neighboring countries. E. polatschekii (● in blue), E. pseudopurpureum (■ in black), E. purpureum (▲ in green).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Erysimum polatschekii. A: habit, B: basal leaf, C: flower. D: fruit. E: Seed. Drawn from Mirtadzadini 23453 (TUH).