Orobanche owerini Beck (Beck)

Piwowarczyk, Renata, Pedraja, Óscar Sánchez, Moral, Gonzalo Moreno, Fayvush, George, Zakaryan, Narine, Kartashyan, Nune & Aleksanyan, Alla, 2019, Holoparasitic Orobanchaceae (Cistanche, Diphelypaea, Orobanche, Phelipanche) in Armenia: distribution, habitats, host range and taxonomic problems, Phytotaxa 386 (1), pp. 1-106 : 77-78

12. Orobanche owerini Beck (Beck) (1922: 39). Type:— GEORGIA. Transkaukasia: prope Tiflis [Tbilisi], Ker Ogli, leg. Owerin (LE). Homotypic synonyms:— O. crenata var. owerini Beck (1890: 227) . Fig. 45E .

Note: — Type: “(укаЗан в LE, но нами не найден) [listed in LE, but not found]” ( Tzvelev 2015: 206).

Distribution: —Northwestern (Shirak prov.) and eastern (Gegharkunik prov.) parts ( Fig. 51). Probably more frequent, but intensive grazing and mowing of pastures makes searching difficult.

General distribution: —The Caucasus, Turkey, Iran?

Habitat: —Subalpine meadows, grassy slopes, pastures, roadsides, usually 2000‒2400 m.

Hosts: —Parasitic exclusively on Fabaceae species, mainly Trifolium sp. and Vicia sp. In the studied territory, parasitic especially on T. trichocephalum M. Bieb. and V. iberica Grossh. in Armenia (in the Greater Caucasus, e.g. in Georgia, usually on T. canescens Willd. ).

Phenology: —Flowering (June) July to August, fruiting August.

Conservation status: —Endangered (EN) – B 1 ab (iii) + 2 ab (iii). EOO is less than 5000 km 2, severely fragmented, existing at no more than 10 locations (3 locations in 2 floristic regions), AOO is less than 500 km 2, severely fragmented, existing at no more than 10 locations. Populations varied from a few to 100 individuals. Limiting factors are restricted EOO and AOO, loss/degradation of habitats caused by overgrazing.

Notes: —A very polymorphic species, especially regarding colour, inflorescence length and variability of flower morphology. Possible mistaken for Orobanche laxissima , O. crenata Forsskål (1775: 113) . Teryokhin ( Teryokhin et al. 1993) questions the existence of O. owerini and claims that it represents special forms of O. crenata . Orobanche owerini , like O. crenata , is reported as a parasite mainly on Vicia , Lathyrus , and Trifolium . The most typical form of O. owerini parasitises T. canescens ( Novopokrovskij & Tzvelev 1958; Piwowarczyk unpublished 2015), whereas other authors mentioned it parasitising Salvia sylvestris L. ( Beck 1930), S. sylvestris and Trifolium sp. ( Zare & Dönmez 2013). Tzvelev points out that O. owerini is a polymorphic species, represented by several races, which can be treated as distinct species. O. owerini is probably closely related to O. crenata and replaces it in the upper montane zone of Asia Minor and Caucasian territories ( Novopokrovskij & Tzvelev 1958), it is not known from other territories where the typical O. crenata is frequent. This issue requires further field study and revision of all materials of the herbarium specimens designated as O. crenata or O. owerini , as well as the whole subsection Speciosae , supported by field research and determination of hosts, especially for the Caucasus.

Specimens examined: — ARMENIA. Geghkarkunik prov.: NNE of Aghberk, in direction to Chambarak , slopes, pastures, on Vicia , 40°33’00”N, 45°16’31”E, 2100 m, 29 July 2017, R . Piwowarczyk ( ERCB, KTC); Shirak prov. : between Ardenis and Aghvorik, slope, pastures near the road to Arpi Lake , on Vicia , 41°04’22”N, 43°44’33”E, 2040 m, 22 July 2017, R . Piwowarczyk ( ERCB, KTC) ; E of Ghazanchi , subalpine meadow, slope, N exposure, on Trifolium , 41°04’05”N, 43°54’33”E, 2370 m, 22 July 2017, R . Piwowarczyk ( ERCB, KTC) .

Figures

FIGURE 45. General habit of: A. Orobanche colorata, B. O. bartlingii, C. O. alba, D. O. javakhetica, E. O. owerini, F. O. arpica. Photos by Renata Piwowarczyk.