Rhamnus rahiminejadii Alijanpoor & Assadi, 2021

Alijanpoor, Behnaz, Khodayari, Hamed, Assadi, Mostafa, Rahiminejad, Mohammadreza & Mehregan, Iraj, 2021, A taxonomic revision of Rhamnus L. and Atadinus Raf. (Rhamnaceae) in Iran, Phytotaxa 521 (3), pp. 127-158 : 142

4. Rhamnus rahiminejadii Alijanpoor & Assadi , sp. nov. ( Fig. 3 )

Holotype — IRAN. Mazandaran: From Ramsar towards Chalus, Jannatroudbar , ca. 500 m from Jannatroudbar towards Palhamjan village , 1530–1560 m, 11 May 2017, B. Alijanpoor s. n. ( TARI 103846 !; Isotype W 0004516 !).

Description —Shrubs, 30–100 m high, erect or prostrate, spiny. Spines 3–5 mm long, simple or branched. Bark grey, dark brown. Brnches opposite, young branches densely hairy. Leaves petiolate; blade 10–25 × 10–15 mm, broadly ovate or elliptic, with glandular teeth at the margin, 3(–4) paires lateral nerves curved and alternate, bicolor, densely hairy below, less above, glabrescent in age; with abtus at the apex and base; petioles 3-8 mm long, densly hairy; stipules 1–3 mm long, filiform. Inflorescence of 1–4 flowers, unisexual, ca. 3 mm long, 4-merous; peduncle glabrus, 2–4 mm long; calyx ca. 1 mm long; sepals ca. 2 mm long, narrow triangular, acute; petals narrow, half as long as sepals; stamens strile in female flowers, as long as petals; ovary with (2–)3(–4) styles. Fruits drupe, ca. 5–8 mm long, globulor, 2–4 furrows at the apex, black in old age. Seeds 2–4, triangular, brown, 3 × 4 mm.

Note — R. rahiminejadii is close to Rhamnus minuta Grubov. The two species are compared in Table 2:

Habitat and distribution— Endemic to N IRAN.

The species is an Euro-Siberian element that is known only from the type specimen collected from Jannatroudbar Region. It occurs in N Iran at an altitude of 1530–1560 m, between 50°30ʹ40ʺ E and 36°46ʹ38ʺ N. The species occurs on the N slopes aspect, on the soil and runner on the rocks in forests margines .

Phenology —Flowering is in late May to early June, fruits and seeds maturie in second half of July to late August.

Conservation status — R. rahiminejadii is given the assessment of Data Deficient (DD) according to the IUCN (2001) criteria.

Note —This species has two types of habits: standing on the soil and runner on the rocks in forests margine.

Etymology —The specific epithet is given in honour of Dr. Mohammad Reza Rahiminejad an Iranian Botanist.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Rhamnus rahiminejadii Alijanpoor & Assadi, (TARI103846) A. Plant (Holotypus)