Narcissus vitekii P. Escobar, 2018

García, Pedro Escobar, 2018, A new species of Narcissus sect. Apodanthi (Amaryllidaceae) from the western Iberian Peninsula, Phytotaxa 345 (2), pp. 143-151 : 144-147

Narcissus vitekii P. Escobar , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–2)

Narcisso scaberulo affinis, sed planta uniflora, omnino glabrata. Habitat in Hispania, in pascuis ad montium Sierra de Gata prope oppidulum San Martin de Trevejo, Extremadura borealis .

Type: — SPAIN. Extremadura: San Martín de Trevejo , 18 March 2017, P. Escobar García 507/2017 (holotype W; isotypes HSS, MA, SALA) .

Perennial herbs 10–15 cm tall, up to 20 cm tall in fruit. Bulb 15–25 × 13–16 mm, ovoid, with whitish inner scales prolonged in a leaf shield, outer scales dark brown. Leaves 1–2, 80–150 × 1.2–2 mm, erect, conduplicate, keeled, glaucous, glabrous. Leaf margins and keels prominently minutely denticulate at base, smooth at apex. Leaf cross-section trapezoidal. Leaf apex obtuse, indurated, yellowish. Scapes 90–130 mm long, terete, slightly compressed, striate, resembling the leaves in color and ornamentation. Spathe 17–24 mm long, membranous, torn at maturity. Flowers solitary, unscented; pedicels 2–4(4.8) mm long, slender, slightly accrescent at maturity. Ovary 3–6 × 2–4 mm, elliptic, light green; ratio ovary length/width 1.3–1.9. Perianth tube 13–17 mm long, narrowly conical, widest at base, slightly curved, pale yellowish green. Tepals 5–7.5 × 3–5 mm, the inner slightly narrower, deep yellow, broadly ovate with maximum width towards their central part, shortly apiculate, patent to reflex; 0.3–0.5 times as long as the periant tube. Corona bowl-shaped, 3.4–4.5 × 8–12.5 mm, 2–2.8 times as wide as long, deep yellow, with an irregularly, shallowly dentate-crenate margin. Stamens unequal, included in the perigone tube. Style included in the perigone tube. Fruit a capsule, 11–18 × 6–10 mm, subglobose, glaucous, with numerous seeds. Seeds 2.4–2.7 × 1.9–2.2 mm, elliptic, with a black strophiole.

Examined material (paratypes): — SPAIN. Cáceres : San Martín de Trevejo, 28 May 2017, fr., P. Escobar García 2370/2017 ( W) ; loc. cit., Puerto de Santa Clara , 24 March 2009, fl., F. M. Vázquez et al. s.n. ( HSS 046765 ) ; Eljas , Sierra de Eljas, 28 April 2014, fl., F. M. Vázquez et al. s.n. ( HSS 060828 ) ; Salamanca : Puerto Viejo, 23 April 2010, fl., F. M. Vázquez et al. s.n. ( HSS 045878 ) .

Etymology: —The species is named after the Austrian botanist Ernst Vitek, curator and later head of the Botany department at the herbarium W for 25 years (1993–2018).

Distribution, habitat, phenology: — Narcissus vitekii is endemic to the Sierra de Gata range of the Spanish Central System. It occurs in clearings of oak ( Quercus pyrenaica Willdenow (1805: 451) forests above 600 m, on sandy and schistose acidic soils. It flowers in March and April, and sets fruit in May and June.

Conservation status: — Narcissus vitekii is known from four populations outside of any protected area. The largest population in San Martín de Trevejo consists of thousands of vigorous individuals found within a large cattle estate, where the plant is directly threatened by overgrazing (the plant is eaten by cattle) and by habitat loss, should the current use of the area be changed. Given the charisma of Narcissus species and their ease of culture, another possible threat is population plundering by illegal collectors. Following the IUCN 3.1 (2001), this plant species could be considered Endangered [EN,B2a,C] in a preliminary conservation statement.

Notes: — Narcissus vitekii is clearly a member of section Apodanthi on grounds of its keeled leaves of trapezoidal section and its seeds possessing a strophiole (for a comparison of characters of taxonomic interest see Table 1). As indicated by our ordination analysis ( Fig. 3 ) and the qualitative morphological comparison with closely related species ( Fig. 1), N. vitekii flowers most closely resemble N. cuatrecasasii , a rupicolous species from limestone outcrops of the southeastern Iberian Peninsula, thus being separated by a gap of more than 500 km. Narcissus vitekii is similar to it in overall morphology, but smaller in all its parts including a much shorter flower pedicel and an elliptical ovary instead of globose. Narcissus vitekii possesses a slightly curved corolla tube, completely odorless flowers and an elliptical ovary, whereas N. cuatrecasasii has a corolla tube that is always straight, intensely scented flowers and a globose ovary. Narcissus rupicola , another related species, is sympatric with N. vitekii but clearly differentiated by its overall more robust habit, green leaves with smooth epidermis, scented flowers, a longer and straight corolla tube, larger patent tepals, and the larger, wider, funnel-shaped and profoundly lobed undulate corona.

Despite the quantitative floral morphology gap ( Fig. 3 ), the vegetative morphology of N. vitekii is more closely resembling that of N. scaberulus than any of the other representatives of sect. Apodanthi with solitary flowers. The scabrid leaf margins covered with minute silica processes is shared by both species, but the ornamentation of the epidermis is more intense in N. vitekii , with spike-like processes visible with ordinary loupe present not only along leaf margins but also on nerves and keels of both leaves and scape. Moreover, N. vitekii is completely glabrous whereas the leaves of N. scaberulus often bear hairs. Nevertheless, indumentum is variable within the latter species ( Aedo 2003) and further morphological screening would be needed. Young or depauperated individuals of N. scaberulus can bear solitary flowers too, but they still differ from N. vitekii by long pedicels that are strongly accrescent during anthesis and fruit ripening, an asymmetrically elliptical ovary tapering into the pedicel, and unambiguously smaller flower parts. Narcissus calcicola , very similar to N. scaberulus but more robust, glaucous and often lacking epidermal ornamentation, is quantitatively the most dissimilar species to N. vitekii within sect. Apodanthi , as can be seen in our ordination analysis ( Fig. 3 ) and the overall morphology plate ( Fig. 1).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) of three morphological characters and the ratios of seven further ones (see text). Coordinates 1 (Eigenvalue=7650.9) and 2 (Eigenvalue=5047.7) accounted for 39.76 and 26.23% of the variability. Fig. 3A, scatter plot with convex hulls. Fig. 3B, 95% ellipses.