A taxonomic revision of the Allium stipitatum complex (Amaryllidaceae) and a new species of the complex from Iran

1 Khorasani M., 1Saeidi Mehrvarz SH., 2Zarre S., 1Marza E
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Guilan, Iran
2Center of Excellence in Phylogeny and Department of Plant Sciences, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Iran
Email: iliamarza@gmail.com

Abstract
Taxonomically, Allium forms a difficult group which is distributed over the northern hemisphere. According to Wendelbo (1971) who revised the genus in the area of Flora Iranica, as one of the major center of diversity of Allium, 139 species have been accounted 75 species out of recorded to occur in Iran. The recent investigations have shown that this number should be increased considerably. Currently, more than 120 species (out of about 800-900 species world wide) are known as growing in the Irano-Turanian phyto-geographical region with high level of specific endemism. These species are classified currently into 7 subgenera and 30 sections. According to the description given in monograph of Fritsch & Abbasi (2013) and our field observation the main features of A. stipitatum complex are as follows: a long scape with purple flowers that caused it to be easily separated from other species and complexes in Allium genus. The Members of the complex are separated from each other on the base of the specific shape of tepal, the quadratic or triangular base of the filament, the size of filament to the tepal size and the shape and type of bulb and tunic. Also in our work, a species revealed the different characters of morphology from other species of the complex by having larger stamens than tepals, arcuately canaliculated leaves, spirally enrolled in apex and recurved to the soil. So, it completely different from the other species of the complex and we can introduce it as a new species for the first time in Iran.

Keywords: Allium, Iran, New species, Taxonomy

References
[1] P. Wendelbo, Flora Iranica. 76 (1971) pp 100.
[2] R.M. Fritsch, M. Abbasi, IPK Gatersleben. 1 (2013) pp 218.