Elwendia lindbergii (Rechinger & Riedl, 1963) Pimenov & Kljuykov

Kljuykov, Eugene V., Lazkov, Georgii A., Degtjareva, Galina V., Zakharova, Ekaterina A., Ukrainskaja, Uljana A., Lyskov, Dmitry F. & Samigullin, Tahir H., 2022, Taxonomic revision of critical taxa of Elwendia (Umbelliferae-Apioideae) from Tajikistan and neighbouring countries, with descriptions of three new species from the Pamir-Alay and distributional novelties, Phytotaxa 543 (5), pp. 255-273 : 268

Elwendia lindbergii

There are relatively a few species of Elwendia distributed in the Tajik Gorny Badakhshan. In the latest floristic treatment for Tajikistan ( Korovin et al. 1984), only three species were reported from this territory. Two of them, Elwendia persica and E. badachschanica ( Kamelin 1977: 190) Pimenov & Kljuykov in Degtjareva et al. (2013: 1002), are common in this region and well recognizable. The third species, E. chaerophylloides , more rarely distributed in this region, is also easily distinguished from the aforementioned species due to its remarkable fruits, separating into mericarps from the upper part.

Elwendia lindbergii was described from Afghan Badakhshan ( Rechinger & Riedl 1963) and insufficiently studied. On the boundary territory to Tajik Gorny Badakhshan, there are specimens morphologically very similar to E. lindbergii . These plants are very similar in their habit and possess identical leaf blades with refracted rachis, umbelles, bracts and bracteoles. The fruits of the specimens from Tajik Gorny Badakhshan separate into mericarps from the base like in the majority of species of Umbelliferae including Elwendia lindbergii .

We propose to treat the critical specimens of Elwendia from Tajik Gorny Badakhshan as Elwendia lindbergii . According to our molecular phylogenetic analyses, two specimens of E. lindbergii from this region do not group together and fall into unresolved position with E. intermedia , E. chaerophylloides and E. persica . Although both specimens of E. lindbergii contain slightly different ITS/ETS sequences, they are morphologically quite homogeneous. We believe the nucleotide sequence variability of E. lindbergii can be caused by the geographical isolation of their populations under harsh climatic conditions of Gorny Badakhshan. With this record, the distribution area of Elwendia lindbergii significantly expands to the east; and the species is reported as new to Tajikistan and Central Asia ( Fig. 4 ).

ITS and ETS data do not allow to differentiate E. lindbergii from E. intermedia and E. chaerophylloides due to unresolved relationships between different accessions of these species. In contrast, morphological characters allow easy identification of E. lindbergii , distinguished from E. intermedia by solid (vs. hollow) stems, longer terminal segments of radical leaves (3–5 mm vs. 2–3 mm), a lower number of umbel rays (2–7 vs. 10–23) and a lower number of bracteoles (2–5 vs. 6–10). These characters suggest that E. lindbergii should be retained as a distinct species.

Figures

FIGURE 4. General views of mericarps. A, Elwendia darwasica. B, Elwendia schistosa. C, Elwendia varsobica. D, Elwendia kuhitangi. E, Elwendia salsa. Scale bar: 1 mm.