Asparagus azerbaijanensis Hamdi & Assadi (2017: 93)

Akhani, Hossein, Abdullahi, Hussaini, Ürker, Okan & Malekmohammadi, Maryam, 2024, Molecular phylogenetic studies on Asparagus (Asparagaceae) revealed the position of the highly endangered Irano-Turkish halophytic species A. lycaonicus P. H. Davis related to A. officinalis L., Phytotaxa 646 (2), pp. 125-142 : 136

Asparagus azerbaijanensis Hamdi & Assadi (2017: 93) .

Holotype:— IRAN. [Eastern] Azerbaijan prov.: 62 km Ahar to Tabriz, margin of road of Tabriz , 1400 m, 12 June 1976, Assadi & Maassoumi 20591 ( TARI, not seen).

Additional specimens reported:— IRAN. Azerbaijan province: 15 km from main road of Makou-Bazargan towards Kelisakandi , 1800 m, 16 August 1991, Assadi 70831 ( TARI) ; 13 km to Makou, on road from Marand , 1200– 1400 m, 28 June 1975, Assadi and Mozaffarian 30105 ( TARI) .

The new species was described from marl-gypsum hills around the road. The authors compared their species with A. touranensis and A. capitatus Baker (1875: 607) .Apart from the type samples, two additional samples are listed in the protologue (Hamdi & Assadi 2017). None of these specimens are cited in the Flora of Iran ( Assadi, 2023). The authors described the species as having only one cladode per fascicle. But the illustration ( Fig. 1, p. 94) shows a long and 4–5 smaller cladodes per fascicle. In the gypsum-marl area between Zanjan and Marand, two species of Asparagus have been collected by the first author (Akhani & Salimian 14412 and 14213, see Table 2 for details on the collection site). We have identified one of the specimens as A. aff. breslerianus (14213) and the other as probably A. cf. azerbaijanensis (Akhani 14212). A final judgment requires further studies including examination of the type specimen.