Dianthus malyeri Daşkın & Bağçıvan, 2024

Bağçivan, Gülşah & Daşkin, Ruziye, 2024, Dianthus malyeri (Caryophyllaceae), a new species from Türkiye, Phytotaxa 674 (2), pp. 229-235 : 230-233

Dianthus malyeri Daşkın & Bağçıvan , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 & 2 ).

Type: — TURKEY. A2 Bursa: İznik, between Elbeyli and Tacir villages, 4 km to Tacir, 40° 30.335’ N, 29° 43.261’ E, stony slopes, 281 m, 25 June 2024, Daşkın & Bağçıvan 1753 (holotype BULU!, isotypes BULU!, GAZİ!).

Paratypes: —A2 Bursa: İznik: from Elbeyli to Tacir , 4 km to Elbeyli crossroad, 40° 27.830’ N, 29° 43.544’E, slopes of Quercus infectoria bushes, 132 m, 25 June 2024 (fl.), Daşkın & Bağçıvan 1755 (BULU) ; İznik; 500 m to Tacir Village entrance, stony slopes, 24 September 2018 (fl. & fr.), Daşkın & Bağçıvan (BULU 42442) .

Diagnosis: — Dianthus malyeri is closely related to D. elegans , but it differs from D. elegans , mainly by stems with 8–16 nodes (not 2–9), calyx 17–20 mm long (not 21–33 mm long), petals 21–24 mm and 6–11-toothed (not 28–38 mm and 20–30-toothed.

Description: —Perennial with woody rootstock, many-stemmed glaucous herbs. Stems ascending or erect, 25– 55 cm tall, 0.8–1.5 mm wide at the base, usually branched from the top, 8–16-noded, with papillose indumentum. Sterile shoot leaves are present at flowering time. Lower leaves persist in flowering; median leaves linear-lanceolate, 20–25(–30) × 1–1.5 mm, flat in cross section, base yellowish and swollen, separated from the stem, 1/3–2/3 as long as internodes, soft, pubescent, 3-veined, rough edges, margins 0.1 mm wide scarious towards sheaths, sheaths 1.5–2.0 times as long as wide; upper leaves linear, 10–15 × 1 mm. Inflorescence raceme, flowers single or sometimes in pair at the end of the branches; pedicels 4–10 mm, glabrous or pubescent, green. Epicalyx scales 6–8; cartilaginous, greenish or straw-coloured, glabrous or puberulent, adpressed to calyx; outer oblanceolate, 1-veined below, indistinctly 5–7- veined above, ca. 1/3 as long as the calyx, 4–6 × 1.0– 1.5 mm, with 0.3–0.5 mm wide scarious margin, with 1.5–2.0 mm arista; inner oblanceolate to obovate, 1-veined below, indistinctly 7–9-veined above, ca. 1/3–2/3 as long as the calyx, 7–9 × 2.0– 2.5 mm, with 0.6–0.8 mm wide scarious margin, often mucronate. Calyx cylindrical-lanceolate, 17–20 mm × 2.5–3.0 mm, prominent 45–50-veined towards apex, glabrous, greenish, rarely purplish towards apex, teeth triangular-lanceolate, 3–5 × 1–1.2 mm, straw colored or purplish at base, 5–7-veined, glabrous, puberulent at apex, margin ciliate and membranous, apex acuminate, often mucronate. Petals 21–24 mm long, limb broadly obovate or cuneate, 7–9 mm × 5–6 mm, as long as ca.1/3 petal, completely exserted from calyx, usually spotted, barbellate, pink above, whitish-pink beneath, 6–11-toothed to apex, teeth broadly triangular, shorter than 1/8 as long as limb, claw 14–15 × 1–1.2 mm, collar almost as wide as claw. Capsule length equal to calyx. Seeds broadly ovate-elliptical, 2.5–3.1 × 1.6–2.1 mm, blackish.

Etymology: —The species epithet is in honour of Turkish botanist Prof. Dr. Hulusi Malyer (Bursa Uludağ University, Department of Biology), who passed away due to Covid-19 on November 2020.

Phenology: —Flowering and fruiting from June to September.

Distribution, ecology and conservation status: — Dianthus malyeri occurs on stony slopes at the edges of olive groves or oak bushes or at altitudes between 130 and 300 meters. The new species grows together with following plants; Cistus creticus Linnaeus (1762: 738) , Hypericum perforatum Linnaeus (1753: 785) , Sedum acre Linnaeus (1753: 432) , Centaurea wiedemanniana Fischer & C.A.Meyer (1835: 32) , Olea europaea Linnaeus subsp. europaea (1753: 8), Micromeria myrtifolia Boissier & Hohenacker (1844: 19) , Sideritis montana Linnaeus subsp. montana (1753: 575), Verbana officinalis Linnaeus (1753: 20) , Quercus infectoria Oliv. subsp. infectoria (1801: 252), Asparagus acutifolius Linnaeus (1753: 314) , Bromus sterilis Linnaeus (1753:77) and Holcus lanatus Linnaeus (1753:1048) .

According to our current knowledge, the new species is distributed in İznik District, Bursa Province and known from three localities (in Tacir and Elbeyli villages) close to each other. The extent of occurence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) of the species are less than 100 km 2 and 10 km 2, respectively (criteria B1, B2 a). Since the habitat of the new species is very close to olive fields, it is possible that it’s extent area, occupancy area and habitat quality will be negatively affected by agricultural activities such as clearing fields and the use of pesticides in the future. For that reason, according to IUCN Red List Criteria (B1 + B2 a, b (ii, iii), threatened category of the new species has been recommended as Critically Endangered (CR) ( IUCN 2024).

Taxonomic notes:—The new species is placed in Dianthus sect. Dentati Boissier (1867: 480) which is different from other sections with its petal limbs are barbulate; margins entire, subentire or toothed, the lacerations are less than 1/4 of the limb length ( Reeve 1967). This section also is the richest section in Türkiye, both in terms of number of taxa and endemism ratio. It is represented with 30 taxa including the species described in here, and 18 of them endemic to Türkiye ( Hamzaoğlu 2012).

Dianthus malyeri is similar to D. elegans because of its sterile shoot leaves are present at flowering time, flowers are pink and solitary or in pairs at the end of the branches, glabrous calyx but it is easily distinguished by it has longer (25–55 cm not 12–45 cm), with more nodes (8–16 not 2–9) stems, shorter (15–30 mm not 20–120 mm) leaves, shorter (17–20 mm not 21–33 mm) calyx, as well as shorter (21–24 mm not 28–38 mm) and 6–11 (not 20– 30) toothed petals.

Reeve (1967) recognized three sympatric varieties of Dianthus elegans ; var. elegans, var. actinopetalus ( Fenzl 1842: 11) Reeve (1967:20) and var. cous ( Boissier 1843: 20) Reeve (1967: 20) based on number of bracteoles and sizes of inner and outer bracteoles in the Flora of Turkey and East Aegean Islands. According to Reeve, D. elegans var. elegans differs from other varieties because of its bracteoles not more than 6 and outer bracteoles longer than inner. Although D. elegans var. actinopetalus is close to var. cous due to it has 8 or more bracteoles, it is very similar to var. elegan s in other characters. On the other hand, D. elegans var. cous is distinguished from var. elegans because of its bracteoles are 8 or more and outer bracteoles shorter than inner. A detailed comparision of D. malyeri with D. elegans var. elegans and var. cous is given in Table 1.

var. cous .

Moreover, Dianthus malyeri is geographically clearly isolated from D. elegans . The new species is restricted to Bursa province, Northwestern Anatolia where it grows on stony slopes at the edges of olive groves or oak bushes between 130 and 300 meters, while D. elegans is distributed in mainly Southwestern and South Anatolia and it usually prefers on rock crevices and limestone cliffs at elevations between 200 and 1600 m. a.s.l. ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dianthus malyeri A. Habit, B. Inflorescence, C. Calyx with epicalyx scales, D. Petal, E. Capsule, F. Seeds with dorsal and ventral view. A–D from holotype Bağçıvan 1753 (BULU): E–F from paratype (BULU 42442).

FIGURE 2. Dianthus malyeri A. habit, B. Inflorescence with fruiting capsules, C. Flower, close up; D. elegans var. elegans (BULU 47680) D. habit, E. Flower, close up

FIGURE 3. Distribution map of D. malyeri (●), D. elegans var. elegans (▄) and D. elegans var. cous () in Türkiye.