Verbascum delphicum Boiss. & Heldr. subsp. delphicum var. filictorum Zografidis, 2016

Zografidis, Aris, 2016, Two new infraspecific taxa of Verbascum delphicum (Scrophulariaceae, Scrophularieae) from mainland Greece and the island of Evvia, PhytoKeys 74, pp. 107-122 : 110-113

Verbascum delphicum Boiss. & Heldr. subsp. delphicum var. filictorum Zografidis var. nov. Figure 3 ; Suppl. material 2.

Diagnosis.

Variety filictorum differs from typical subsp. delphicum in that it produces sterile stems up to c. 80 cm of height instead of basal leaf-rosettes.

Type.

GREECE. Ins. Evia. Above the settlement of Ag. Dimitrios, 38°06'N, 24°26'E, in patches of Pteridium aquilinum , 500 m, 4 July 2015, A. Zografidis 113. (Holotype: ATH, Isotype: ATHU)

Description.

Polycarpic eglandular- and minutely glandular-hairy short-lived perennial herb - or less often monocarpic biennial - producing a well-branched taproot and a sterile, erect or ascending, terete, leafy stem in the first year of vegetative growth, followed by the production of an additional sterile stem and a terete flowering-stem in each of the succeeding few years of vegetative and reproductive growth. Eglandular hairs dendritic, 0.4-2 mm of length, more or less covering the whole aerial part of the plant; glandular hairs minute, sparse, present on leaves, bracts, bracteols and calyx segments, visible by microscopy; fully developed first-season leaves whitish- to yellowish- and softly-tomentose above, grayish-white and softly tomentose beneath; sterile stems up to 80 cm in height; fertile stems 40-180 cm of height, green to reddish-black, glabrescent but ± persistently, tomentose below; lower cauline-leaves petiolate; petiole up to 15 cm of length; lamina ovate to widely ovate, 1.2-1.9 of length to width ratio, obtuse-truncate to cordate at the base, crenate, obtuse at apex; larger leaf laminas 16-40 × 11-24 cm; middle cauline-leaves similar but progressively smaller and often subacute at the apex, shortly petiolate; upper cauline-leaves small, sessile, ovate-cordate, subacute at the apex; all cauline leaves alternate; Inflorescence 25-60 cm of height, simple or sparingly branched at the base with short, sub-erect branches and then inflorescence narrowly pyramidal in outline; flowers arranged in clusters of pedicellate, compacted cymes (glomerules), ± crowded at least above, consisting of 3 - 12 flowers; bracts 3-7 × 2-4 mm, ovate to lanceolate, acute to acuminate or cuspidate, glabrescent; bracteoles present, similar to bracts but smaller; longer pedicels 4-10 mm of length, tomentose, ± glabrescent; calyx divided almost to the base into 5 lanceolate to lanceolate-linear, acute segments, 3.5-6 × 1.1-1.7 mm; abaxial surface of calyx tomentose, ± glabrescent; corolla rotate, flat, 1.5-2.8 cm of diameter, yellow, with or without indistinct purple marks on the throat, with pellucid glands, divided to c. 3/4 into 5 broadly-obovate, subequal lobes; abaxial surface of corolla partially tomentose, adaxial surface sometimes ciliate near the throat, otherwise glabrous; tube of corolla ± infundibuliform, 1-2.3 mm of length, 1.5-2.2 mm of diameter; stamens 5, free, ciliate with white, clavate hairs which reach the connective of all anthers or do not reach the connective of the anterior stamens; three posterior stamens 5-8 mm, two anterior stamens 6-10 mm; stamen filaments orange; all five anthers reniform, mediofix, papillose on adaxial surface, or glabrous on adaxial surface of the connective of anterior stamens, 0.8-1.4 mm; style tomentose at the base, 6-9 mm, slightly clavate at the apex; stigma hemispherical; capsule (excl. rostrum) 3.5-7 × 3-5 mm, ovoid to broadly ovoid, densely tomentose on early development, later glabrescent, with a rostrum 1-1.5 mm; seeds numerous, chestnut brown to dark brown, 0.7-1.1 × 0.5-0.7 mm, obpyramidal to ovoid-oblong, irregularly prismatic, faveolate with 4-8 pits in each longitudinal series.

Etymology.

Name is in reference to the often abounding in ferns habitat of the variety.

Verbascum delphicum specimens examined.

subsp. cervi : GREECE. Attica: In regione abietina montis Parnethis , 5-18 June 1911, Tuntas s.n. (GB)

subsp. delphicum : GREECE. Ins. Evvia: In rupidus ad cacumen m. Delphi, 5000', 19 August 1948, Heldreich, 2040 (G-BOISS); In regione sylvatica & superiore montis Dirphyis (Delphi hod.) usque ad cacumen, 3000 ’-5500’ 31 July-5 August 1858, Heldreich 799 (K, P); Insula Evvia meridionalis, Montes Ocha, in valle infra Hagios Dimitrios, ca. 600 m, 21 May 1955, K. H. Rechinger, 17181 (W); Insula Evvia meridionalis, Montes Ocha, in querceto-castanetis vers us Kallianou, ca. 600 m, 22 May 1955, K. H. Rechinger, 17220 (W); Insula Evvia meridionalis, 3 km a promontorio Kaphireos occidentem versus, 22 June 1958, K. H. Rechinger, 18953 (W).

Figures

Figure 3. Verbascum delphicum subsp. delphicum var. filictorum Zografidis: Habit. A sterile stem is discernible next to the flowering stem.