Acantholimon ibrahimii Akaydin 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Akaydin, Galip
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Caryophyllales
Plumbaginaceae
Acantholimon
Acantholimon ibrahimii

description: Acantholimon ibrahimii Akaydın, sp. nov. (Fig. 1 –4)   
 Type:— TURKEY. C5 Niğde: Çamardı, Demirkazık village, on calcareous slopes, 1650 m, 08 July 2008, Akaydın 11971 (holotype: ANK!; isotype: HUB!)   
 Diagnosis:— Species distinctissima sectionis Staticopsidis, A. davisii similis sed ea manifeste differt scapis ramosis (non simplicibus) et petalis albidis (non rosaceis).   
 Description:—Densely pulvinate dwarf shrublet. Lower leaves reflexed, leaves triangular-lanceolate, 15–25 × 0.8–1.2 mm, calcareous puctate, scabridulous on margins. Scapes 1–2 branched, 6–12 cm, distinctly longer than leaves, 3–4 scaled; Scales shorter than internodes, 7–9 mm, aristate, hyaline except vein. Spikes laxly distichous, 4–8 cm long, with 6–14 spikelets. Spikelets 1-flowered, 11–12 mm long. Bracts unequal, glabrous; outer bract herbaceous, 4–5 mm, ovate-triangular, acuminate, broadly hyaline margined; inner bracts subequal 7–8 mm, longer than calyx tube and outer bract, elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, keeled, hyaline except the vein. Calyx infundibular, 10–11 mm long, tube longer than limb, 10-lobed, lobes truncate-obtuse; veins concolorous, sparsely pilose on the tube and terminating below margin. Petals white, distinctly longer than calyx.   
 Eponymy:—This endemic species is named after Ibrahim Akaydın, the author’s late father, whose love for plants and flowers, led him to encourage his son to become a botanist and professor.   
 Distribution, habitat and ecology:— Acantholimon ibrahimii is a Turkish endemic only known from a small area near Demirkazık village (Çamardı district, Niğde province, southern Turkey), and can be considered a Mediterranean element. It grows on stony and dry calcareous mountain slopes at elevations of 1600–1900 m. The new species is usually found associated with species such as Artemisia caucasica Willdenow (1823: 3), Convolvulus compactus Boissier (1844: 40), Gypsophila sphaerocephala Fenzl ex Tchichatscheff (1860: 205) var. sphaerocephala, Nepeta cilicia Boiss. in Bentham (1848: 388) and Senecio pseudo-orientalis Schischkin (1961: 727), as well as the endemics Ebenus laguroides Boissier (1843: 99) var. laguroides and Pterocephalus pinardii Boissier (1844: 88).   
 Conservation status:—According to the current data, A. ibrahimii occurs in a discontinuous area of approximately 20 km 2 near Demirkazık village, in southern Turkey. The number of the individuals in the five known populations is less than 2500 and they seem to be extremely scattered. Therefore, it is suggested that this new species should be classified as “Endangered” EN [C2a(i), D] according to IUCN (2013) criteria.   
 Diagnostic characters:—Although Acantholimon ibrahimii is certainly related to A. davisii, after a close examination and literature consultation it was also observed that the specimens of the new species from five different populations were quite different from the latter in their morphological and ecological characteristics (Table 1). Probably the most remarkable differences between those two species are the scapes form and petals colour. The scapes are branched in A. ibrahimii (Fig. 1), whereas they are unbranched in A. davisii; and petals are white in the former (Fig. 2), but pink in the latter.   
 Comparison of altitudes and habitats of these two species show significant differences. Acantholimon davisii is found at elevations of 350–900 m and grows on bare eroded hills and in gypsum slopes (Akaydın & Crespo 2017), whereas A. ibrahimii occurs at higher elevations (about 1600–1900 m), on stony and dry calcareous mountain slopes (Fig. 3).   
 Furthermore, biogeographically Acantholimon ibrahimii is a Mediterranean element and is found in the C5 square in southern Turkey. On the contrary, A. parviflorum is an Irano-Turanian element occurring in the A3, A4 and A5 squares in northern Turkey (Fig. 4).   
 Additional specimens examined:— Acantholimon ibrahimii Akaydın. TURKEY. C5 Niğde: Çamardı, Þumlu boğazı, 1700 m, 08 July 2008, Akaydın 11974 (HUB); Çamardı, around Demirkazık, 1600 m. 08 July 2008, Akaydın 11986 (HUB); ibid., 1800 m, 03 July 2015, Akaydın 16010 (HUB); ibid., 1900 m, 03 July 2015, Akaydın 16016 (HUB). A. davisii Akaydın & M.B.Crespo. TURKEY. A5 Sinop: Boyabat, 350 m, bare eroded hills [24 July 1962], Davis, Coode & Yaltırık, D. 38043 (holotype: E barcode E 00327025!); A3 Ankara: between Beypazarı and Nallıhan, 500 m, 19 August 2000, Akaydın 6427 (HUB); A4 Ankara: between Ayaþ and Nallıhan, around Acısu, 500 m, 19 August 2000, Akaydın 6417, 6418 (HUB); Çankırı: between Çankırı and Tosya, around Suluca, 700 m, 24 September 2000, Akaydın 6594 (HUB); between Çankırı and Ilgaz, 900 m, 28 June 2001, Akaydın 6635 (HUB); A5 Sinop: between Hanönü and Boyabat, around Salar village, 330 m, 15 July 2001, Akaydın 7076, 7077 (HUB).   
 FIGURE 4. Distribution map of Acantholimon ibrahimii (▲) and A. davisii (■) in Turkey.
description: Published as part of Akaydin, Galip, 2018, Acantholimon ibrahimii (Plumbaginaceae), a new species of A. section Staticopsis from the Mediterranean part of Turkey, pp. 48-54 in Phytotaxa 340 (1) on pages 49-53, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.340.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/13718688