Crocus baalbekensis K. Addam & M. Bou Hamdan sp. Nov and its three forms (IRIDACEAE), new endemic species and forms from Lebanon, joined the Lebanese Flora

Abstract

Crocus baalbekensis K. Addam & M. Bou Hamdan sp. Nov is nominated as a novel species in addition to its three forms from Baalbek District, northeast of Lebanon. The new species resembles Crocus aleppicus and Crocus hyemalis but varies in terms of phytogeography, phenology, and some taxonomic structures such as (corm, tunic, leaves, and shape of the perianth, segment and others). Thousands of this new species were perceived in countless villages in the northern city of Baalbek. It grows in cold semi-arid climates in stony grasslands, tundra where trees are absent. Plant material and morphological analyses were done, measurements, colors, and other details given in the description are based on both herbarium and fresh materials. Morphological data were taken from more than 10 specimens. The flower is 1-6, 30-40mm tall, white, fragrant (Fresia smell), corm oblong conical about 20-26mm x 14-20mm in diameter. Corm tunic 4-10 layers, brown, extended neck 10-20mm, great build-up of old tunics, coarse parallel fibers, not glued together, with cross-links. Leaves 4-12 (present at flowering), green, glabrous, white stripe about 1/4 of leaf keels, Spathe, 3-4, membranous white to pale yellow pipe. Outer perianth segment, 3, oblanceolate, abaxial side is colored by yellow, mottled by dark blue–violet, middle (1 to 3) stripe of dark violates veins continue to the segment, filament, 3, deep yellow, Anther, wide, arrow shape, longitudinally striped in black and yellow. Style 1, deep yellow to orange, sometimes striped by thinner black lines, divided to 3 stigmas, equal or longer than the stamen. Stigma (each one) is branched to 3-6 short strands. Voucher specimen (Holotype) is deposited in K. Addam’s Herbarium Arts, Sciences and Technology University in Lebanon, Accession No.: 22-1-17-58-001. The three forms resemble Crocus baalbekensis but differ in the color of the tepals.

Romulea jezzinis K. Addam & M. Bou-Hamdan sp. nov and Romulea libanotica K. Addam & M. Bou-Hamdan sp. nov (Iridaceae), Two New Species from Lebanon

“…Khodr Addam and M. Bou-Hamdan have worked on the bulb plants of the Lebanese flora for more than 22 years and have had a lot of publications [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] especially those which have focused on the Iridaceae family since 2017. 31,33 Few other scientists mentioned the Iridaceae family in their studies. George Poste, 48 Paul Mouterde, 35 Khodr Addam, Mounir Bou-Hamdan, 31,33 and Georges and Henriette Tohmé 49 mentioned a lot of species from this family in their books and publications, even Mouterde (as mentioned before) discovered Romulea phoenicia.…”

“…31,33 Few other scientists mentioned the Iridaceae family in their studies. George Poste, 48 Paul Mouterde, 35 Khodr Addam, Mounir Bou-Hamdan, 31,33 and Georges and Henriette Tohmé 49 mentioned a lot of species from this family in their books and publications, even Mouterde (as mentioned before) discovered Romulea phoenicia. 35 During our 23 years of field work, we have found and registered all the species of Romulea mentioned to exist in Lebanon.…”

“…In fact, what seems common at a local level might be highly scarce at a global one. [29][30][31] Romulea genus seems to be more spread in regions with typically Mediterranean climate, with mild winters, hot and dry summers, and autumn-spring rainfall, 20 which is typical to the climate of Lebanon. This unique Mediterranean climate, geological breading, and topographical diversity are the key features that represent Lebanon as a vital reserve for multifarious sporadic, native, and endemic species (predominantly some of the very rare endemic which makes it one of the world's most prodigious spots for conservation).…”

Karyomorphology of some Crocus L. taxa from Uşak province in Turkey

“…Furthermore, intermediate characters caused by introgression as a result of hybridization is observed frequently in closely related species (Harrison and Lar-son 2014;Kerndorff et al 2016;Yılmaz 2021b). The number of the taxa belonging to the genus Crocus have recently doubled with the detailed field studies particularly in Turkey (Addam et al 2019). While Uslu et al (2012) states that there are almost 70 Crocus taxa which is their 31 endemic to Turkey, Gedik et al (2017) states that Turkey is represented by 132 taxa which is their 108 endemic.…”

“…However this caused increase the taxonomic problems at the infraspecific level. As a result, it is proposed that subspecies status can not be maintained and anymore must be categorized as species (Harpke et al 2016;Addam et al 2019).…”