Buglossoides incrassata (Guss.) I. M. Johnst. subsp. incrassata

Raab-Straube, Eckhard von & Raus, Thomas, 2024, Euro + Med-Checklist Notulae, 17, Willdenowia 54 (1), pp. 5-45 : 10-12

Buglossoides incrassata (Guss.) I. M. Johnst. subsp. incrassata

(≡ Lithospermum incrassatum Guss. ≡ B. arvensis subsp. incrassata (Guss.) Kerguélen ) – Fig. 4 .

+ Cm: Crimea: Sevastopol region, Cape Aya Nature Reserve, Biller ridge, Demir-Capu tract, 24 Apr 2010, Turbanov (photo); ibid., Inzhir tract, 13 Apr 2012, Yevseyenkov (photo); ibid., SW slope of Biller ridge, 600 m, gravelly slope, 28 Apr 2012, Svirin (YALT as B. tenuiflora ); ibid., Balaclava vicinity, Vitmer ravine, 44°30'03"N, 33°37'44"E, 175 m, open Juniperus excelsa M. Bieb. forest, 10 Jun 2019, Ryff (herb. Ryff + photo); ibid., 44°30'04"N, 33°37'33"E, 140 m, 27 Apr 2021, Ryff (herb. Ryff + photo); ibid., Mekenzi mountains, 44°39'15.30"N, 33°41'22.06"E, clearing in Quercus pubescens Willd. and Carpinus orientalis Mill. forest, 2 Apr 2023, Yevseyenkov (photo).

– Buglossoides incrassata subsp. incrassata is an annual, distributed from the W Mediterranean to W Iran ( Zippel & Wilhalm 2003; Valdés & Raab-Straube 2011 +; POWO 2023). In some sources, it is listed as a native plant also for the Canary Islands ( POWO 2023), and as a casual alien for Germany ( Hand & al. 2023; Valdés & Raab-Straube 2011 +) and the Czech Republic ( Danihelka 2014; Randall 2017; Pyšek & al. 2022; POWO 2023). There is an opinion that this species may also grow in the Caucasus and C Asia ( Popov 1953). In Crimea, plants of this taxon were recorded for the first time in 2010, on the spurs of Cape Aya in the vicinity of Sevastopol by I. S. Turbanov. But he identified them as B. tenuiflora (L. f.) I. M. Johnst. and showed his photos under this name on the Plantarium website (https://www.plantarium.ru/page /image/id/52917.html; https://www.plantarium.ru/page /image/id/52918.html). Similar plants were subsequently photographed and collected in the same area by S. A. Svirin and P. E. Yevseyenkov. For several years they were not correctly identified because all these finds were only represented by young, flowering specimens. The finding by one of us (LER) in 2019 of mature fruiting specimens and comparison of plants from the vicinity of Sevastopol with specimens stored in the KW and LE herbaria, as well as presented on GBIF (2023) and other internet sources, showed that, in terms of their main characteristic morphological features (bright blue corolla with oblong obtuse lobes, strongly thickened pedicel, enlarged calyx base, oblique receptacle, nutlet with rugose-scrobiculate surface, etc.) they are identical to specimens of B. incrassata subsp. incrassata from the Mediterranean, and especially from the Balkan Peninsula. We investigated the seedsurface ultrastructure of B. incrassata subsp. incrassata from Sevastopol using SEM. The nutlets are pyramidaltriangular, ovoid or subtrigonal, with subcircular areoles; the ventral side has a keel, while the dorsal side is convex; the beak is short and blunt; the shoulders are pronounced; and the surface is irregularly deeply furrowed, with protuberances with type I papillae ( Fig. 4E ). The features of seed morphology correspond to those given for B. incrassata subsp. incrassata ( Edmondson 1978; Cecchi & al. 2014). SW Crimea is so far the only known locality of B. incrassata subsp. incrassata in E Europe. It is a native plant there and found only in natural habitats: on rocky and clayey slopes in juniper and oak woodlands.

L. E. Ryff, T. S. Dvirna & M. Shevera

Figures

Fig. 4. Buglossoides incrassata subsp. incrassata – A: flowering plant; B: flower; C: fruiting plant; D: calyces of fruiting plant; E: SEM of nutlet. – A, B: Crimea, Balaclava, 27 Apr 2021; C: ibid., 10 Jun 2019; D: 27 May 2020 (collected 10 Jun 2019), photographs by L. E. Ryff; E: ibid., 31 May 2021 (collected 10 Jun 2019), photograph by T. S. Dvirna & M. Shevera.