Colchicum kivicum Bazdid Vahdati & Faghir

Vahdati, Fatemeh Bazdid & Faghir, Marzieh Beygom, 2024, Colchicum kivicum (Colchicaceae), a new species from Ardabil Province, north-western Iran, Phytotaxa 641 (1), pp. 22-30 : 22-28

Colchicum kivicum Bazdid Vahdati & Faghir , sp. nov. (Figs 3,4).

Type:— IRAN. Ardabil Province, Kivi, Baba rashid mountain, Moist alpinic meadows, 2500 m, 38º20ʹ87″ N, 48º10ʹ80″ E, 2 Mar 2021, Bazdid Vahdati 9125 (holotype: GUH; isotype: YUH) .

Colchicum kivicum is similar to Colchicum trigynum (Adams) Stearn (1934: 344) , but it differs by its longer leaves, shorter cataphyll and neck, rounded corms, no auricle at the base of the limb and mucronate cataphyll apex; it also differs from Colchicum kurdicum Stefanoff (1926: 42) by its smaller flowers, narrower leaves, glabrous filaments, smooth nerves of petal and straight to shortly hooked styles. Finally, it differs from Colchicum wendelboi Persson (1992: 19) by its flower number and colour, leaf apex, pattern of petal nerves, capsule and seed shape and position caruncle.

Perennial herbs with ovoid–subglobose corms, 25–29 × 16–30 mm, outer tunics black–dark brown, inner tunics membranous, bright brown; neck present, 6–10 mm; cataphyll 35–45 × 9–11 mm, light yellow or cream, sometimes purplish red in upper part. Leaves 3(4), synanthous, dark green, often tinged purplish on margins and apex, suberect to arcuate, extending 40–75 mm from cataphyll at anthesis, 40.0–80.0 × 7.4–11.0 mm at maturity, linear–lanceolate, obtuse, midvein visible but other veins indistinct, margins entire, glabrous. Flowers 1(3), light yellow or cream, perianth tube split to the base, exceeding the cataphyll by 10–40 mm, tepals white, 20–25 × 3–7 mm, oblong–lanceolate, each with 10–17 (–23) veins, obtuse–acute, without auricles at base, filament channels glabrous. Stamens light yellow to yellowish green, with swollen yellow or yellowish green base, 1/2 to 1/3 of perianth limb in length, filaments 7–10 mm, glabrous, anthers dark green to purpulish black, 2.0–3.5 × 0.6–2.0 mm, pollen yellow, monads medium (51.64 μm), bilaterally symmetrical, isopolar, diporate, polar axis 34.40 (42.03±6.05) 55.75 μm, equatorial axis 19.11 (24.31±3.56) 32 μm, P/E ratio 1.72 μm, outline circular from the polar view and elliptical from the equatorial view, pore ectoaperturate, almost circular, prolate, exine surface ornamentation microreticulate, exine thickness 0.33 (1.37±0.45) 2.66 μm, styles light yellow, curved at apex, stigmas terminal, punctiform. Capsule light to dark brown, 13.2–22.0 × 9.0–15.0 mm, oblong–elliptic, glabrous; seeds reddish brown to dark brown, oval–elliptic, globose, 2.21 (2.61±0.32) 3.06 mm long, 1.51 (1.82±0.23) 2.07 mm wide, seed surface ornamentation reticulate–rugose, anticlinal cell wall boundaries raised and surface sculpture smooth to finely folded, outer periclinal cell wall shape concave–convex, surface rugose, caruncle basal ( Figs 5A,B , 6A,B ).

Etymology:— Referring to Kivi, a village in the high mountain areas of Ardabil Province.

Phenology:— Flowering March–May, fruiting in June–July.

Distribution and ecology:— Known only from north-western West Alborz Mountains, Ardabil Province, on open slopes of moist alpine meadows, near melting snow with brown soils (lithosols), 2300–2500 m., accompanied by Ornithogalum sintenisii , Medicago lupulina and Ranunculus brutius .

Conservation status:— The primary risk factors are over–grazing and land–use change. Based on IUCN criteria ( Bland et al. 2017), C. kivicum could be considered as critically endangered (CR), criterion B1 due to the extent of occurrence of less than 100 km 2. Also, the species conforms to criterion B2, with an area of occupancy of less than 10 km 2 and number of mature individuals in the population less than 20, criterion C.

Additional specimens examined:— Colchicum trigynum . IRAN. Urmia , Targovar, 10 Jun 2022, Bazdid Vahdati 9307 ( GUH) ; Mazandaran, Firouzkuh , 15 km to north, 8 Jul 1995, Riedl & Ershad 29761 ( IRAN). Colchicum wendelboi . IRAN. Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, on the road to Bazoft, Charri mountain, 28 May 2021, Bazdid Vahdati 9405 ( GUH) ; Fars, Shiraz–72 to Kazeron , 27 Feb 1971, Foroughi 1139 ( TARI). Colchicum kurdicum . IRAN. Guilan, Rudbar, Baresar, 30 Mar 2021, Bazdid Vahdati 9149 ( GUH!) ; Mazandaran, ca 88 km NW of Damghan on road to Sari , 16 Jun 1978, Wendelbo & Assadi 29529 ( TARI) .

Notes:— Colchicum kivicum is disjunct from C. kurdicum , C. wendelboi , C. pusillum Sieber (1822: 248) and C. burtii Meikle (1977: 181) . The first species has a wider distribution: northern to central and western Iran, Iraq and Turkey; the second grows only in western and southern Iran ( Persson 1992, Maroofi 2017); the third is generally distributed in Greece, Cyclades, Cyprus; and four species grow only in western and central Turkey (endemic) ( Brickell 1984, Düşen & Sümbül 2007). In addition, C. trigynum , occurs in Turkey, Caucasus, northern, north-western and central Iran ( Persson, 1992, Maroofi 2017), and C. minutum Persson (1999:56) is a Turkish endemic ( Düşen & Sümbül 2007).

According to previous studies ( Persson 1992, Maroofi 2017), all Iranian Colchicum species have long cataphyll. Colchicum kivicum with its small cataphyll is an exception. In this regard, it may resemble Merendera eichleri Boissier (1882: 168) of former USSR ( Komarov 1968). It does not overlap with Colchicum kivicum in morphological features and distribution. Merendera eichleri has void–oblong corms, linear–ovate, acuminate leaves, acuminate perianth segments with short teeth at the base of limb and claw three times the length of limb and its distribution is mostly restricted to the east and central Caucasus ( Komarov 1968).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Pollen of Colchicum kivicum (from the holotype). A. Polar view. B. Sexine ornamentation. (Scale bar, polar view = 5 μm; sexine ornamentation = 2 μm).

FIGURE 6. SEM micrographs of seed (A) and seed coat (B) of Colchicum kivicum (from the holotype). (Scale bar, A = 1 mm; B = 100 μm).