Ziziphora clinopodioides Lamarck (1791: 63)

Dirmenci, Tuncay, Haloob, Ali, Celep, Ferhat & Ghazanfar, Shahina A., 2023, Contributions to Ziziphora clinopodioides (Lamiaceae) in Turkey and Iraq, Phytotaxa 592 (3), pp. 279-293 : 281-282

Ziziphora clinopodioides Lamarck (1791: 63) . ( Fig. 1 )

Type:— Siberia (holotype P, P00358724 -photo!)

Selected references:— Dinsmore (1933), Juzepchuk (1954), Al-Rawi (1964), Rechinger (1982), Edmondson (1982), Jamzad (2012).

Suffruticose, often mat-forming perennial. Stems prostrate to erect, usually much branched from base, 5‒50 cm tall, glabrous to hirsute, sometimes pilose above. Leaves very variable in size and shape, 4‒30 × 2‒6 mm, linear-lanceolate to ovate-oblong, rarely suborbicular to orbicular; base attenuating into the petiole to 2.5 mm long, cuneate or rounded, apex acute to acuminate, margins entire or slightly serrulate, glabrous to ± pilose or velutinous with sessile glands. Inflorescence a dense terminal head, verticillasters many, 8‒17-flowered. Bracts usually broader than leaves, 3‒13 × 1.8‒8.5 mm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, ovate-elliptic or spathulate, sessile, entire, densely pilose or velutinous at margins, acute to acuminate at apex. Bracteoles linear-lanceolate or subulate, 1‒2 mm long. Calyx (3‒)4‒6(‒8) mm long, subbilabiate, green or partly purple, 13-veined, glabrous to densely hirsute-villous, with sessile glands, hairy in throat; teeth triangular-subulate, 1‒1.5 mm long. Corolla 7‒12 mm long, purplish to pale pink, rarely white, tube included in calyx (in female flowers) or shortly exserted (in hermaphrodite flowers); bilabiate, upper lip emarginate; lower lip 3-lobed, median lobe truncate, lateral lobes rounded. Fertile stamens 2, as long as the upper lip or slightly longer; filaments 3‒5 mm long, glabrous, appendage absent. Style unequally bifid, 5‒11 mm long, included in corolla or exserted. Mericarps 1.2‒1.8 × 0.5‒0.8 mm, obovoid-oblong, slightly papillate, brown.

Habitat: —Rocky slopes and screes, mountain steppe; elev. 1500‒3400 m; fl. & fr. June to September.

Distribution: —Western Turkey to West Himalayas.

A species with a wide distribution, with variations in growth form, leaf shape and indumentum.

Yuzepchuk (1954) and Rechinger (1982) stated that the type specimen of Ziziphora clinopodiodes was kept in the P herbarium, but they did not put the exclamation mark indicating that they had seen the type specimen. As a result of the researches, only one type specimen was found in the P herbarium, in historical collection (Lamarck’s Herbarium, P00358724 ) ( Fig. 1 ).

Identification key for the subspecies of Ziziphora clinopodioides for Turkey and Iraq

1. Plant suffruticose; stems 20‒50 cm tall, erect; leaves narrowly lanceolate to elliptic ....................................................................... 2

- Plants herbaceous or suffruticose stems to 15(‒20) cm tall, procumbent to arcuate-ascending; leaves elliptic, ovate-lanceolate to orbicular.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

2. Flowering stems slender, to 50 cm tall; leaves narrowly lanceolate ............................................................. subsp. rigida

- Flowering stems robust, to 30 cm tall; leaves, lanceolate to broadly elliptic........................................................... subsp. ronnigeri

3. Stems, leaves and calyx purplish; leaves orbicular to suborbicular ............................................................................... 4

- Stems, leaves and calyx green or partly purplish; leaves ovate to lanceolate ................................................................. 5

4. Calyx long and densely whitish villose.................................................................................................................... subsp. filicaulis

- Calyx short hirtellous ............................................................................................................................................ subsp. elbursensis

5. Flowering stems ascending, to 8 cm tall, densely long pilose, glandular puberulent and with sessile glands.............. subsp. brantii

- Flowering stems ascending to erect, 15‒20 cm tall, hirsute to villose with sessile glands................................................................ 6

6. Calyx 5‒6 mm long; stamens exserted from corolla throat......................................................................................... subsp. kurdica

- Calyx 4‒4.5 mm long; stamens not exserted from corolla throat........................................................................ subsp. brevistamina

Figures

FIGURE 1. Type of Ziziphora clinopodioides (Image is © Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN)—Paris Herbarium (P00358724)