Delphinium staphisagria L., Delphinium requienii DC., and Delphinium pictum Willd. are annual or biennial species of the tribe Delphinieae (Ranunculaceae) that occur in the Mediterranean basin (see ‘Nomenclature and key to the species’ section for a more detailed description of their distribution areas). They are considered endangered (Olivier et al. 1995, Fraga et al. 2004) because of changing land use patterns and bottlenecks caused by irregular demography (Orellana et al. 2009a). All three species are protected in France (Olivier et al. 1995).

Linnaeus knew only Delphinium staphisagria, which he described as Delphinium nectariis diphyllis, foliis palmatis lobis integris. With the recognition in the early 19th century that there were two additional species resembling Delphinium staphisagria, Spach (1839) grouped all three in the genus Staphisagria established by John Hill in 1756 for Linnaeus’s Delphinium staphisagria. Spach’s ranking of the three species as a separate genus, distinct from Delphinium, however, gained few followers and no modern treatment appears to have accepted Staphisagria.

Molecular phylogenetic studies of the Delphinieae recently revealed that the three species of Staphisagria sensu Spach are the sister clade to all other Delphinieae (Maximum Likelihood bootstrap support: 90%), a group of 650-700 species ranging from Eurasia into North America and with a few isolated species on West and East African mountains (Jabbour and Renner, unpublished data; Fig. 1). This discovery fits with several characters of the three species that are unusual in Delphinium. For example, Staphisagria species have eight chromosome pairs of staggered size (see Fig. 3 in Verlaque and Aboucaya 2001), while most Delphinium have a bimodal karyotype of two long and six short chromosome pairs (Gregory 1941; Kurita 1955; Blanché and Simon 1987; Yang 1996, 2001). Species of Aconitum subg. Lycoctonum (c. 50 species) and the three species of Staphisagria (Verlaque and Aboucaya 2001) have a similar karyotype, suggesting parallel chromosomal reconfigurations. The Staphisagria species also have C19 aconitine-type alkaloids (De La Fuente and Reina 1990) and Aconitum-like stomata and pollen (Blanché 1991). Flowers of Staphisagria are less zygomorphic than those of the remaining Delphinieae and their nectar spurs are only 2-7 mm long (Bosch 1997; Verlaque and Aboucaya 2001). This last trait probably reflects predominant self-fertilization, with reduced reliance on nectar-foraging bees for cross-pollination (Bosch 1997; Bosch et al. 2001).

To account for the phylogenetic relationships in the Delphinieae (Fig. 1), we here resurrect the genus Staphisagria and make the required new combination for a species for which Spach (1839) did not provide a legitimate name.

Staphisagria picta (Willd.) F. Jabbour, comb. nov.

Basionym.

Delphinium pictum Willd., Enum. Pl. [Willdenow] 1: 574. 1809. SYNTYPES: Röpert, D. (Ed.) 2000- (continuously updated): Digital specimen images at the Herbarium Berolinense. Published on the Internet http://ww2.bgbm.org/herbarium/ Barcode: B -W 10324 -01 0 / ImageId: 164585) and Barcode: B -W 10324 -02 0 / ImageId: 164601) [accessed 02-Sept-11].

Herbarium specimen studied:

Balearic Islands: Majorca, Puntas de Covas, top of sea cliffs, amongst limestone boulders, 100 m, April 1988, F.J. Rumsey s.n. (M).

Comments

The new combination is necessary because Staphisagria brevipes Spach (1839) is illegitimate since it included the older name Delphinium pictum. Staphisagria picta is endemic to Corsica, Majorca, and Sardinia. Its main habitats are open grasslands covering rocky places from 150 up to 600 m above sea level (Orellana et al. 2009b)

Figure 2.

Staphisagria macrosperma A young plant with the cotyledons and two palmate leaves B young inflorescence with floral buds subtended by a bract and bracteoles C side view of a flower showing the very short spur (or bulge) on the dorsal petaloid tepal D three-quarter view of a flower showing four developed staminodes: two lateral (black arrows) and two spurred (white arrows). The tips of the spurs are nested within the bulge of the dorsal tepal E three follicles F Gravity-dispersed poisonous seeds (c. 6 mm in length). Scale bars: 1 cm.