Muscari zagricum Eker, Alipour & Majidi

Alipour, Sajad, Majidi, Ramiar & Eker, İsmail, 2024, Muscari zagricum (Asparagaceae, Scilloideae), a unique new species from Iran, Phytotaxa 652 (2), pp. 133-141 : 134-138

Muscari zagricum Eker, Alipour & Majidi sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–3 )

Diagnosis:— Muscari zagricum is similar to M. pseudopallens and M. pallens , but is distinguished from both species by dull brown outer tunic color (vs. dark brown), cylindrical and moderately lax raceme (vs. oblong-ovoid and dense), no-extending pedicels, obovoid-campanulate fertile flowers (vs. globose or cylindrical-campanulate), dark violet color of lobes (vs. white), strongly compressed capsule valves (vs. somewhite compressed), as well as flowering time.

Type:— IRAN. Ilam province: Darreh Shahr , steppe, 700–750 m a.s.l., 06 January 2023, Y. Abjameh s.n. (holotype FUMH!; isotypes FUMH!) .

Paratypes:— IRAN. Ilam province: Darreh Shahr, steppe, 700–750 m a.s.l., 11 February 2023, Y. Abjameh s.n. (in fruit) ( FUMH!).

Description:— Bulb ovoid, 2.5 – 3 × 1.5 – 2.5 cm, without offsets. Outer tunics papery, dull brown; inner tunics membranous, yellowish to light brown. Leaves 3 – 4 per scape, declined, linear, falcate, not tapering at base, distinctly canaliculate, 14 – 16 × 0.2 – 0.5 cm, green, prominent veined at the lower surface, without a white line on upper surface, glabrous, acute. Scape 1–2 per bulb, 10 – 12 cm long in flower, slightly elongating in fruit, shorter than leaves. Raceme 16–20-flowered, moderately lax, cylindrical, 2.1 – 2.7 × 1 – 1.3 cm in flower, not elongating in fruit and fruiting raceme remaining dense and compact. Pedicels of fertile flowers 1–2 mm long, shorter than perianth, deflexed, not elongating in fruit. Fertile flowers obovoid-campanulate and urceolate at tip, 3 – 4 × 1.5 – 3 mm, shouldered and with longitudinal grooves, slightly constricted (orifice 1–2 mm), dull white and sometimes slightly suffused with mauve, and prominently darkening in dried flowers; lobes c. 1 mm long, dark violet, erect to slightly recurved. Pedicels of sterile flowers 0.5–1 mm long, semierect to patent, shorter than sterile flowers. Sterile flowers a few (0–5), narrowly obovate, 1–2 × 0.5–1.5 mm, in same color with the fertile ones. Stamens biseriate, filaments c. 1 mm long, blackish-purple, lower series attached about the middle of the tube and upper series 0.5 mm above lower ones; anthers blackish-purple, c. 1 mm, pollen blackish-purple. Ovary green, globose, 1.8–2.4 × 1.8–2.4 mm; style white, c. 0.8 mm long. Capsule oblate, not or slightly emarginate, with strongly compressed valves, 3–5 × 6–8 mm. Seeds c. 1.7 × 1 mm, ovoid; surface rugose, shiny black. Flowering and fruiting in January–February.

Eponymy: —The specific epithet of the new species is derived from the Zagros Mountains, where it grows.

Distribution and habitat: — Muscari zagricum is only known from a very restricted area in Darreh Shahr of Ilam province. It shows a natural distribution in the steppes at 700–750 m of elevation. Some species that share the new species’ immediate surrounding habitat include: Anemone coronaria Linnaeus (1753: 539) , Astragalus fasciculifolius Boissier (1843: 73) and Onopordon leptolepis Candollae (1838: 619) . The new species is a plant belonging to the Irano-Turanian floristic region according to the global floristic region designations of Takhtajan (1986).

Conservation assessment: —Less than 200 mature individuals were observed at the type locality of Muscari zagricum , which covers an area of less than 5 km 2. It is also likely to be found in similar habitats in the immediate vicinity. However, its natural habitat is located next to the agricultural farms. Overgrazing and agricultural expansion are threatening its natural habitat. Therefore, based on the IUCN criteria, we assess the species as “Critically Endangered (CR)” (Criterion B2ab[ii iii, v]) due to its distribution restricted to a single locality and the predicted decline in AOO, habitat quality and number of mature individuals ( IUCN 2022).

Simillar species: — Muscari zagricum is similar to M. pseudopallens and M. pallens , but is distinguished from both species by its outer tunic color (dull brown vs. dark brown), raceme shape and density (cylindrical and moderately lax vs. oblong-ovoid and dense), pedicels no extending when in fruit (vs. elongating to 6 mm in fruit), fertile flowers obovoid-campanulate with shouldered and grooved (vs. globose or cylindrical-campanulate to tubular-campanulate, not shouldered and not grooved), color when dry (prominently darkening vs. dry in white or bluish colors), color of lobes (dark violet vs. white), strongly compressed capsule valves (vs. somewhite compressed), as well as flowering time (January vs. April–May) and habitat characteristics. From M. pseudopallens it also differs by no elongating raceme in fruit and fruiting raceme remaining dense and compact (vs. elongating and lax in fruit), capsule shape and width (oblate and 6–8 mm vs. obovoid to obovoid-globose and 4–6 mm). From M. pallens it also differs by leaf characteristics (declined, linear, falcate, not tapering at base, distinctly canaliculate vs. erect to erecto-patent, linear and enlarged upward or oblanceolate and tapering at the base, not twisted, slightly canaliculate to straight), stamens arrangement (attached at and above middle of tube vs. attached below middle of tube) ( Table 1 ; Figs. 1–3 ).

Taxonomic relationships: —The Zagros Mountains, a large part of which is located within the borders of Iran, include Northern Iraq and a part of southeastern Türkiye. It is a long mountain range extending in the northwestsoutheast direction. Noorozi et al. (2020a) listed 3642 vascular plant species from the Zagros Mountains, 747 of which are Zagros endemics, located within the Irano-Anatolian biodiversity hotspot. They also suggested that the list of plant species of this mountain range is still incomplete, with approximately 7% more species awaiting discovery, including new species and records.

The new Iranian endemic Muscari zagricum and the Eastern Anatolian endemic M. pseudopallens are located almost at opposite ends of the Zagros mountain range. Muscari pallens is endemic to the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, further northeast.All three are probably evolutionarily related species. Noroozi et al. (2020b) suggested that the floristic composition of the Alborz mountain range shows high similarity to the Zagros, Anatolian and Caucasus mountain ranges, which is due to their strong topographic connectivity with Alborz. Similarly, the Yazd-Kerman massifs have been shown to show a close phytogeographic connection with other neighbouring mountains, especially the Zagros range ( Noroozi et al. 2019). These connections suggest that the evolutionary history of the three species considered here is somehow linked, but that geographic barriers also reveal further divergence. Thus, all three species are distinguished from each other by clear morphological characters. All three species share the common similarity of having either completely or partially white flowers. However, in M. pallens the colour of the fertile flowers is predominantly white and azure blue, whereas in M. pseudopallens variations in shades of blue are more common than in white individuals. Muscari zagricum is completely dull white (sometimes slightly suffused with mauve) and is one of the first species to bloom seasonally among Muscari s.s. species, making it quite unique. Detailed morphological differences are in Table 1 and Figs. 1–3 .

Selected specimens examined:— Muscari pseudopallens . TÜRKİYE. Van: Gevaş, between Göründü-Altınsaç Villages , 4. km, steppe, 1680 m a.s.l., 03 May 2017, M. Armağan 7250 (holotype AIBU!; isotypes AIBU!, EGE!, NGBB 012362!) ; between Altınsaç-İnköy, Deveboynu Peninsula, around the Church of Saint Thomas, stony slopes, 1896 m a.s.l., 21 May 2022, İ. Eker 13281 & H. Eroğlu ( AIBU!) ; ibid., 1701 m a.s.l., 21 v 2022, İ. Eker 13283 & H. Eroğlu ( AIBU!) ; between Göründü-Altınsaç Villages , steppe, slopes, 1750 m a.sl., 06 May 2002, M. Koyuncu 14074 & N. Adıgüzel (AEF 25811!) ; ibid., 4. km, steppe, 1680 m a.sl., 03 May 2017, M. Armağan 7251 ( AIBU!) ; between Göründü-İnköy , 1700-1750 m a.s.l., 03 May 1997, M. Koyuncu 11579 (AEF 25786!) ; ibid., 1750 m a.s.l., 11 May 1997, M. Koyuncu 11622 (AEF 25778!) ; Ağıllı Village , 1730 m a.s.l., 03 May 1997, M. Koyuncu 11579 & N. Demirkuş 5111 (AEF 25781!) ; ibid., 1700 m a.s.l., 11 May 1997, M. Koyuncu (AEF 25774!) ; ibid., 1750 m a.s.l., 19 April 1998, N. Demirkuş s.n. (AEF 25092! ve 25093!) ; ibid., 1750 m a.s.l., 19 April 1999, N. Demirkuş s.n. (AEF 25091!) ; Deveboynu Peninsula , lakeside, open slopes, 29 April 2007, H. Yıldırım 1124 ( EGE!) ; South of Lake Van , slopes, 1700 m a.s.l., 18 iv 2004, M. Koyuncu 14074 (AEF 25650!). Muscari pallens . CAUCASUS [ GEORGIA]: Iberia, “ Hyacinthus pallens alpinam , sp. authenticum”, M. Bieberstein s.n. (Lectotypus Herb Bieb. -LE, [photo: E 00326157!], [photo: E 00345990!], [photo: K!]) ; CAUCASUS: Caucasus, C. Wilhelms s.n. (E 00345987!, G!, G-BOIS 00753347) ; Caucasus , s.n. (E 00345989!) ; Caucasus , 1959, s.n. (E 00129912!) ; Caucasus , May 1959 (E 00129913!) ; Caucasus , 1893, Radde 90 (G!) ; Ossetia, Balta, Terek , 20 May 1881, A.H. & V.F. Brotherus 832a ( K!) ; Ossetia, Lars, Terek , 24 May 1881, A.H. & V.F. Brotherus 832 (G!) ; GEORGIA: circa Kasbeg et Lar , Rupr s.n. (G-BOIS 00753346!) ; in long grass by track on way from Kazbegi to the western “corrie” of Mt. Koro , c. 1750 m a.s.l., 13 June 1985, C.C. Townsend 85/652 ( K!) ; Kasbegi , 1800-2000 m a.s.l., June 1961, collected by member of Tbilisi Bot. Garden in 1959, X/59.3886 (in fruit) (cult., E 00345993!) ; Mtiuleti, Kazbegi, Dariali Gorge , south of Russian border, rosky slope, 1302 m a.s.l., 20 May 2010, Brown et al. 277 (E 00435657!) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Muscari zagricum. a: habit-inflorescence, b: habit-infructescence, c: inflorescences and leaves, d: bulbs.

FIGURE 2. Muscari pseudopallens. a: habit, b: inflorescences, c: infructescence, d: bulbs.

FIGURE 3. Muscari pallens. Photographs of some of the herbarium specimens examined; A—A1: Habit and close view of inflorescence from K Herbarium (K!), B—B1–B2: Habit, close view of inflorescence and bulb from G Herbarium (G!), C: Habit from E Herbarium (E 00129912!), D—D1: Habit and close view of infructescence from E Herbarium (E 00345993!).