tailieunhanh - A new species of Astragalus (Fabaceae) from Turkey

Astragalus silifkeense Dinç, Aytaç & Doğu, sp. nov. (Fabaceae, sect. Astragalus Bunge) is described as a new species from Silifke (Mersin Province), in southern Anatolia, Turkey. The new species is closely related to A. columnaris Boiss., endemic to Denizli in western Anatolia, and A. gilvus Boiss. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2013) 37: 841-846 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article A new species of Astragalus (Fabaceae) from Turkey 1 1 2, 1 Muhittin DİNÇ , Zeki AYTAÇ *, Süleyman DOĞU Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: Astragalus silifkeense Dinç, Aytaç & Doğu, sp. nov. (Fabaceae, sect. Astragalus Bunge) is described as a new species from Silifke (Mersin Province), in southern Anatolia, Turkey. The new species is closely related to A. columnaris Boiss., endemic to Denizli in western Anatolia, and A. gilvus Boiss. in Ankara Province, Turkey. Taxonomic descriptions, as well as pollen and seed characters of the new species, are presented. The new species grows in an open Abies cilicica (Antoine & Kotschy) Carrière forest. The geographical distribution of the new species, along with that of A. columnaris and A. gilvus, is shown. The new species is compared with is relatives A. columnaris and A. gilvus. Key words: Astragalus, Leguminosae, taxonomy, Turkey 1. Introduction The genus Astragalus L. is one of the largest genera of vascular plants in the world and is distributed mainly around semiarid steppe regions. It is represented by approximately 3000 taxa in the world and is also the largest genus in Turkey, where it is represented by 463 taxa (including subspecies and varieties), 210 (41%) of them endemic, and is classified in 63 sections (Chamberlain and Matthews, 1970; Davis et al., 1988; Maassoumi, 1998; Aytaç, 2000; Aytaç et al. 2012; Karaman Erkul and Aytaç, 2013). On a field trip in 2011, specimens of Astragalus were collected from the town of Kırobası in Silifke (Mersin Province). After comparisons with the morphologically similar taxa A. columnaris and A.