Allochrusa lutea Falat. & Mahmoodi, 2016

Mahmoodi, Mohammad & Falatoury, Atiye Nejad, 2016, Allochrusa lutea (Caryophylloideae, Caryophyllaceae) a new species from Iran, Phytotaxa 277 (2), pp. 191-198 : 193-196

Allochrusa lutea Falat. & Mahmoodi , sp. nov. ( Figs. 2–3 )

Type:— IRAN. Zanjan Province. 20 km on the Zanjan –Tabriz road, beginning of Esfejin to Mirjan road, 36°44’22.38”N, 48°14’35.88”E, 1570 m, 5 June 2016, Mahmoodi & Ashrafi 100472 (holotype TARI!).

Diagnosis:— Allochrus lutea is close to A. persica from which differs in having 8–9 ovules (instead of 4 ovules), elliptic ovary (not obconic), yellow petals (not white or pink), retuse petal apex (not obtuse) and having flowers only on upper half of the stem.

Description:—Perennial, rhizome long, 10–20 mm thick. Whole plant with short and sparse hairs, often non glandular in two main heights (small ones up to 0.05 mm and larger ones 0.1–0.15 mm). Stems many, erect, 20–30 cm long, whitish or purple-tinged, branched in the inflorescence part. Leaves linear to narrow spatulate, 10–20 × 1–2.5 mm, tapering toward base, acute. Inflorescence paniculate. Bracts linear to linear-lanceolate, acute. Pedicels 4–20 mm long. Calyx tubular, 7–8 mm long; teeths narrowly lanceolate-subulate, 1.5–2 mm long. Petals spatulate, yellow with purple veins on claw and at the base of limb, two times longer than the calyx; limb obovate, retuse to sometimes emarginate. Ovary elliptic. Styles 2 with small terminal stigma. Ovules 8–9. Stamens 10. Capsule cylindrical, about 5 mm, 1-seeded, seed strongly curved, 2–3 mm in diameter.

Etymology:—The specific epithet refer to the petals color.

Phenology:—Flowering and fruiting times June–September.

Distribution and habitat: — Allochrusa lutea is restricted to the Zanjan Province while its closest relative species ( A. Persica ) occurs in NW-Iran ( Fig. 4 ). Altitudinal range is 1300–1600 m a.s.l. A. lutea grows on low montane steppe life zone in open, disturbed and dry areas with high percentage of scree on the ground. A. lutea belongs to Dendrostellera lessertii-Acantholimon scorpius community ( Mahmoodi 2015) where other interesting species there are, e.g.: Bufonia macrocarpa Seringe (in Candolle 1824: 388), Cousinia boissieri Buhse ( Boissier & Buhse 1860: 127), Haplophyllum laeviusculum C.C. Townsend (1966: 18) , Helichrysum globiferum Boissier (1849: 29) , Polygala hohenackeriana Fischer & C.A.Meyer ( Fischer et al. 1837: 42).

Conservation status:— Allochrusa lutea is known so far only from few localities with a distance of about 40 km each other. The known AOO is about 25 km 2, while the EOO is 400 km 2. There are no protection plans in the areas, which the new species grows and also there is frequent overgrazing as a destructive factor in those areas. In addition, because of vicinity to urban and rural areas, there is high risk of habitat loss and fragmentation for A. lutea . As a consequence, and following the IUCN Red List criteria ( IUCN 2012), A. lutea is here proposed as Endangered: EN [criteria A4, and B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)].

Taxonomical notes:— Allochrusa lutea differs from A. persica Boissier [1867: 560 ; lectotype designated by Schiman-Czeika (1988: 250) on a specimen preserved at G! (image available at http://www.villege.ch/imagezoom/?fif=cjbiip/cjb13/img_55/G00226480.ptif&cvt=jpeg), isolectotype at K! (image is available at http://apps.kew. org/herbcat/getImage.do?imageBarcode=K000725640)] especially in. their petal color and ovule number ( Table 1). Nevertheless, A. persica & A. lutea are similar in habit, leaves shape and indumentum.

It is noteworthy that the differences between A. bungei (1867: 560). and A. versicolor (1867: 559), which are mentioned in literatures, are not clearly recognizable among our specimens. We think that is the reason Cullen (1967) noted that he could not find any specimens in Turkey as A. bungei .

A preliminary key for Allochrusa species occurring in Flora Iranica area follows:

1. Calyx 3.0‒ 5.5 mm long; petals slightly exceeding or one and a half times as long as calyx................................ A. tadshikzistanica

- Calyx 7‒10 mm long; petals twice as long as calyx...........................................................................................................................2

2. Subshrubs, covered with glandular hairs; petals pink........................................................................................................................3

- Perennial herbs with thick woody caudex, without distinctive glandular hairs; petals white or yellow with purple striae on the claw and sometimes at the base of limb......................................................................................................................................................4

3. Calyx teeth narrowly lanceolate, subulate-acuminate; calyx covered with rather short hairs ............................................. A. bungei

- Calyx teeth triangular or triangular-lanceolate, acute; calyx densely covered with long hairs....................................... A. versicolor

4. Petal white with purple striae, ovules 4............................................................................................................................... A. persica

- Petals yellow with purple striae, ovules 8‒9 ........................................................................................................................... A. lutea

Additional specimens examined (Paratypes): — IRAN. Zanjan Province: 11 km on the Zanjan-Mianeh road, 36°43’20.25”N, 48°20’32.07”E, 1540 m, 6 June 2016, Mahmoodi & Ashrafi 100481 ( TARI!) ; 20 km on the Zanjan – Tabriz road, beginning of Esfejin to Mirjan road, 36°44’22.38”N, 48°14’35.88”E, 1570 m, 19 June 2014, Mahmoodi 100635 ( TARI!) ; 50 km to Zanjan on the road from Tabriz , 1300 m, 13 June 1976, Assadi & Maassoumi 20615 ( TARI!) ; ca. 15 km from Zanjan to Mianeh , N 36 º 48´, E 48 º 12´, 1450 m, 12 June 2005, Mozaffarian 87109 ( TARI!) .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Allochrusa lutea: A) habitat, B) habit of an individual, C) flower (photos from the type locality, June, 5 2016, by M. Mahmoodi).

FIGURE 3. Flower parts of Allochrusa species. A‒H) Allochrusa lutea: A) dissected flower (bar = 5 mm), B) petals and stamens (bar = 5 mm), C) dissected calyx (bar = 2 mm), D) ovary and styles (bar = 2 mm), E–F) ovules (bar = 0.5 mm), G) capsule (bar = 2 mm), H) premature seed (bar = 1.5 mm), I–K) A. persica: I) ovary (bar = 2mm), J) dissected flower (bar = 5 mm), K) ovules (bar = 0.5 mm), L) dissected flower of A.versicolor (bar = 5 mm).

FIGURE 4. Distribution map of Allochrusa species in Iran.