Limonium palmare (Sibth. & Sm.) Rechinger

Brullo, Salvatore & Erben, Matthias, 2016, The genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) in Greece, Phytotaxa 240 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

49. Limonium palmare (Sibth. & Sm.) Rechinger fil. (1943a: 105) ( Fig. 49 )

Basionym:― Statice palmaris Sibthorp & Smith (1806: 213) . Type (Neotype, designated here):―[Icon] tab. 297 (Sibthorph & Smith 1821). Type (epitype, designated here):― GREECE. Cyclades : In Cycladum ins. Naxos, in halipedi Haliki, July 1897, De Heldreich & Halácsy s.n. (B!) .

Description: —Plant perennial, glabrous, glaucous, forming a sub-shrub 10–25 cm tall, with many ascending to erect stems and a robust tap-root. Caudices 10–30 mm long, densely branched, densely spirally leafy in the upper third; living leaves in rosettes at apices of caudices. Leaves coriaceous, rigid, tuberculate with many crateriform glands, 7–30 mm long and 3–6 mm broad, more or less narrowly spathulate, apex obtuse or emarginate, retuse, flat, with one central nerve, gradually tapering into the petiole. Stems slender, 10–20 cm long, flexuous, slightly articulate, more or less tuberculate with many crateriform glands, branching begins near the base. Inflorescence trullate or obtrullate in outline. Sterile branches absent or only few, 1–4 per stem, 1–3 cm long, more or less straight, undivided. Fertile branches 3–9 cm long, tuberculate with many crateriform glands, slightly curved, directed obliquely upwards, forming branching angles of 20°–45°, undivided or branched. Spikes 15–70 mm long, straight to curved, erect to directed obliquely upwards; axis of the spike with many crateriform glands. Spikelets sometimes laterally slightly curved near the base, 6.8–7.2 mm long, composed of 1–2 flowers, remotely arranged with 2–3 per cm. Outer bract 2.6–2.8 mm long and 2.2–2.5 mm broad, triangular-ovate, obtuse; bract margin broadly membranous; central part slightly fleshy, sometime only at the base, acuminate. Middle bract membranous, 2.4–3.0 mm long and 1.9–2.1 mm broad, oblong-obovate to oblong-elliptic, rounded. Inner bract 6.4–6.7 mm long and 3.9–4.4 mm broad, oblong-obovate, rounded; bract margin broadly membranous; central part slightly fleshy, 4.8–5.5 mm long and 2.5–3.0 mm broad, oblong to oblong-obovate, acuminate, forming a narrowly triangular tip, 0.6–0.8 mm long, not reaching the upper margin. Calyx 5.4–5.9 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 0.7–1.0 mm; calyx tube densely shortly hairy, with 5 ribs ending at the base of lobes; calyx lobes ca. 0.7 × 1.2 mm, semi-circular. Corolla pink to lilac.

Chromosome number: —2n=34. This chromosome complement was recorded by Georgakopoulou et al. (2006) in specimens from Naxos. The identification of the investigated material needs to be confirmed because this species is critical.

Distribution:— This species appears to be restricted to Naxos, where it is very rare ( Fig. 89I ).

Habitat:— Calcareous rocky coast.

Taxonomic remarks:— L. palmare is a very peculiar species. It was described by Sibthorp & Smith (1806) sub Statice palmaris , who indicated “ In Asia minoris littoribus maritimis ”. The associated illustration [“Tabula 297” of Flora Graeca (Sibthorph & Smith 1821) ] was published several years later, and it is not suitable as lectotype. However, since no original material was traced, a neotype should be designated (art. 9.7 of the ICN) and we selected the image by Sibthorph & Smith (1821) as neotype. According to herbarium and field investigations, the only Limonium species that is similar to the original illustration of the species in question comes from the island

114 • Phytotaxa 240 (1) © 2016 Magnolia Press

BRULLO & ERBEN of Naxos in the Cyclades, and not from the Middle East as reported in the protologue. Consequently, a specimen collected from Haliki in Naxos and now lodged in Berlin (B) has been designated as the epitype. L. palmare differs from L. parosicum and L. contractum by having longer inner bracts and from L. pusillum by having shorter spikelets.

LIMONIUM (PLUMBAGINACEAE)

Phytotaxa 240 (1) © 2016 Magnolia Press • 115

Specimens examined:— GREECE. Cyclades: Insula Naxos: in arenosis maritimis (Halike), 26 June 1889, De Heldreich & Halácsy s.n. (BM, OXF, WU); Insula Naxos, in parva insula Palatia, 26 June 1889, De Heldreich s.n. (BM, OXF, PC, WU); insula Naxos: in halipedo Halike, July 1897, Leonis s.n. (B, M, W); in Cycladum ins. Naxos, in halipedo Halike, 13 July 1897, Leonis s.n. (WU, Z); Insula Naxos prope Chalki, 13 July 1897, Leonis 249a (WU); Naxos in lapidosis Halike, July 1897, De Heldreich & Halácsy s.n. (WU); In Cycladum ins. Naxos, July 1897, De Heldreich s.n. (G); Insula Naxos prope urbem, 18 June 1898, Leonis 166 (BM, FI, PC); Naxos, LiaridhiaApiranthos, 2 September 2003, Brullo & Bacchetta s.n. (CAT).

Figures

FIGURE 49. Limonium palmare (Sibthorp & Smith) Rechinger fil.. A) Habit; B) Spikelet; C) Outer bract; D) Middle bract; E) Inner bract; F) Calyx; G) Calyx lobes; H) Leaf. (Habit and leaf drawn from “Naxos, Liaridhia-Apiranthos, Brullo & Bacchetta s.n., CAT”, spikelet details from“Insula Naxos, Halike, Leonis s.n., M”).

FIGURE 89. (Map 4) Geographical distribution of Limonium arcuatum (A); L. antipaxorum (B); L. cephalonicum (C); L. coronense (D); L. stenotatum (E); L. ithacense (F); L. phitosianum (G); L. parosicum (H); L. palmare (I).