Hurkaea Al-Shehbaz, M. Koch, R. Karl, & D.A. German, 2022

Koch, Marcus A., Karl, Robert, Al-Shehbaz, Ihsan A. & German, Dmitry A., 2022, The new tribe Fourraeeae (Brassicaceae) and two Moroccan Arabis species transferred to the new genus Hurkaea, Phytotaxa 543 (1), pp. 41-50 : 45-46

Hurkaea Al-Shehbaz, M. Koch, R. Karl, & D.A. German , gen. nov.

[Named in honor of Herbert Hurka (5 May 1940 –, Greiz / Thuringia), since 1982 Professor for Botany , Systematics and Evolution at Osnabrück University and retired in 2005, in appreciation of his important contributions in Brassicaceae systematics and phylogenetics paving the way for thorough taxonomic studies].

Type species: Hurkaea conringioides (Ball) Al-Shehbaz, M. Koch, R. Karl, & D.A. German.

Herbs normally perennial (sometimes flowering in first year), cespitose or not, with slender or compact caudex, glabrous throughout, glaucous. Trichomes absent. Multicellular glands absent. Stems erect, simple or few to several branched at base. Basal leaves petiolate, rosulate or not, simple, entire (rarely in H. conringioides with 1 tooth or small lobe on each side); cauline leaves sessile, amplexicaul to strongly auriculate at base, entire. Racemes many flowered, ebracteate throughout, initially corymbose in flower, slightly to considerably elongated and lax or somewhat dense in fruit; rachis straight; fruiting pedicels ascending to widely spreading or descending, slender, straight, persistent. Sepals narrowly oblong, free, deciduous, suberect, equal, base of lateral pair not saccate; petals white, pink, or dark purpleviolet, erect at base with flaring blade, distinctly longer than sepals; blade oblanceolate, apex obtuse; claw only slightly differentiated from blade, subequaling sepals, glabrous, unappendaged, entire; stamens 6, slightly exserted, erect, tetradynamous; filaments wingless, unappendaged, glabrous, free; anthers linear to oblong; nectar glands confluent, subtending bases of median stamens, surrounding those of lateral stamens; ovules 30–90 per ovary; placentation parietal. Fruit dehiscent, capsular siliques, narrowly linear, latiseptate, not inflated, unsegmented; valves papery, with obscure midvein, glabrous, smooth, unappendaged; gynophore absent; replum rounded, visible; septum complete, membranous, veinless; style obsolete or distinct and 0.5–1.5 mm long; stigma capitate, entire, unappendaged. Seeds uniseriate, wingless or apically narrow winged, oblong, flattened; cotyledons accumbent.

Two species, endemic to Morocco.

Key to the species

1a. Plants cespitose; stems 10–30(–40) cm tall; petals white or pink; fruiting pedicels (0.5–) 0.7–1.3 cm long, erect to ascending, subappressed or not; fruits suberect, subappressed, or ascending, 4–6.7 cm long.................................................... H. conringioides

1b. Plants not cespitose; stems 50–130 cm tall; petals dark purple-violet; fruiting pedicels (1.2–) 2.5–4.5 cm long, spreading or divaricate-ascending; fruits widely spreading to descending, (3.5–) 5–13 cm long .............................................................. H. josiae