Silene microsperma subsp. modesta (Boiss. & C.I.Blanche) Eggens, F.Jafari & Oxelman, comb. et, 2020

Eggens, Frida, Jafari, Farzaneh, Thollesson, Mikael, Crameri, Simon, Zarre, Shahin & Oxelman, Bengt, 2020, Phylogeny and species delimitation in Silene sect. Arenosae (Caryophyllaceae): a new section, PhytoKeys 159, pp. 1-34 : 1

8d. Silene microsperma subsp. modesta (Boiss. & C.I.Blanche) Eggens, F.Jafari & Oxelman, comb. et stat. nov.

Description.

20.0-50.0 cm tall, erect or sometimes spreading. Stem scabrous, pubescent in lower part, scabrous, glabrous with sessile glands in upper part; with 4-10 distinct internodes, the uppermost internode 3.0-6.0 cm long and obviously longer than the next upper internode. Cauline leaves oblanceolate 10.0-40.0 × 1.0-4.0 mm, pubescent. Calyx 13.0-15.0 mm long, campanulate at anthesis and clavate in fruit, pubescent, scabrous; teeth unequal; shorter ones 2.0-3.0 mm, ovate, acuminate; longer ones 2.0-4.0 mm, lanceolate, acuminate; marginal hairs long (longer than 0.5 mm), dense. Inflorescence non-divaricate, branch axile (much) less than 90°. Petal claws 8.0-9.0 mm long, ciliate; limbs 3.0 mm long, bifid, white to pink, lobes oblong, petal limbs cleft to middle or more; coronal scales ca 1.0 mm long, ovate, apex entire or slightly erose. Anthophore 2.5-3.5 mm long, densely puberulent. Anthers included; filaments 6.0-9.0 mm long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Styles included. First pedicel 1.0-3.0 cm in flower, 2.0-4.0 cm in fruit, erect, glabrous, apex antrorse. Capsule 9.0-11.0 mm long, oblong or ellipsoid, robust. Seeds 0.6-0.8 mm wide, 0.6-0.7 mm high, testa smooth.

Distribution.

Palestine, Lebanon (Fig. 7 ).

Notes.

Distinguished by the short anthophore and long capsule that is unusually thick-walled and robust. This taxon has all the characteristics of a self-pollinating Silene , e.g. short anthophore, large capsule, small petal limbs, and anthers and styles included in the corolla mouth ( Aydin et al. 2014b). This taxon used to be considered as closely related to S. chaetodonta , but the molecular phylogenies (Figs 1 , 3 , 5 ) show that " S. modesta " belongs in the S. microsperma -group. In order to emphasize this information, we have therefore decided to treat this taxon as a subspecies of S. microsperma rather than recognizing it as a species.

Figures

Figure 1. Species tree from two STACEY runs and three unlinked regions (ITS, RPB 2, rps 16). Posterior probabilities> 0.75 are shown above branches. The number following the taxonomic name is the specimen ID (Suppl. material 1). Scale bar reflects the number of substitutions per site.

Figure 3. Phylogenetic tree resulting from Bayesian analysis of the ITS sequences including 76 taxa. The trees were summarized in a 50 % majority-rule consensus tree with the posterior probabilities (PP) indicated above branches. Bootstrap support values (> 75 %) based on MP and ML are noted below branches, respectively. The numbers following the taxonomic name indicate the specimen ID and Genbank numbers (Suppl. material 1), respectively.

Figure 5. Phylogenetic tree resulting from Bayesian analysis of the RPB 2 sequences including 76 taxa. The trees were summarized in a 50 % majority-rule consensus tree with the posterior probabilities (PP) indicated above branches. Bootstrap support values (> 75 %) based on MP and ML are noted below branches, respectively. The numbers following the taxonomic name indicate the specimen ID and Genbank numbers (Suppl. material 1), respectively.

Figure 7. Distribution map of S. sect. Arenosae. Each color code corresponds to one taxon: A S. arenosa B S. austroiranica C S. chaetodonta D S. exsudans E S. georgievskyi F S. leyseroides G S. linearis H S. microsperma subsp. cypria I S. microsperma subsp. maritima J S. microsperma subsp. microsperma K S. microsperma subsp. modesta L S. striata.