Turkey. Antalya: District of Manavgat, Köprülü Kanyon National Park, Bozyaka road, cultivated specimen, 15 June 2010, Brullo s.n. (Holotype: CAT!).

Loncomelo malatyano affine, sed distinctum statura majore, bulbo subgloboso, latiore, 4–foliato, inflorescentia longiore, 50–55 floribus, bracteis ovato-lanceolatis, non dentatis, tepalis lineari-oblongis, viridibus, albis et undulatis margine, filamentis staminorum oblongis, latioribus, ovario ovoideo, stylo breviore, capsula minore.

Figure 1. 

Loncomelos koprulense Bogdanović, Brullo & Salmeri, sp. nov. A habit B bracts C pistil D open pistil E ovary cross section F stigma G capsule. Drawing by S. Brullo from cultivated material coming from the type locality.

Plant up to 95 cm tall. Bulbs subglobose, 2.5–3 × 3–3.6 cm, outer tunics whitish, papery, without bulblets. Scape 55–60 cm long, glabrous, green-glaucous. Leaves 4, often withered at the anthesis, shorter than scape, linear, canaliculate, 18–30 × 0.35–0.8 cm, without white median line, abaxial face densely hairy, margins hairy, hairs 0.5–1.2 mm long, adaxial one glabrous. Raceme cylindrical, 32–40 cm long, 50–55 flowered. Pedicels 12–25 mm long, curved-divaricated, glabrous. Bracts membranous, ovate-lanceolate, 6–13(19) mm long, broadened at the base, long acuminate toward the apex, 5–8 nerved, shorter than pedicel or subequal, smooth at the margin, glabrous. Perigon stellate, 20 mm in diameter, tepals linear-oblong, 10–11 × 2.4–2.6 mm, glabrous, papillate-glandulose at the apex, markedly undulate at the margin, green with white margin. Staminal filaments white, oblong, abruptly narrowed and apiculate at the apex, 5–5.5 × 1.6–2 mm, thickened at the margin with central greenish midrib, anthers pale-green, 2.5–2.7 mm, dorsifixed. Ovary ovoid, green, 3 × 2.3 mm, with blunt lobes; each lobe with a distinct central nerve and two smaller, lateral ones. Style 2.2–2.3 mm long, stigma papillose. Capsule ovoid, 6.5–7 × 5 mm, erect. Seeds not seen. Chromosome number 2n = 2x = 22.

Figure 2. 

Loncomelos koprulense Bogdanović, Brullo & Salmeri, sp. nov. A tepals and stamens B flower with bract C bud with bract D leaf abaxial face E Leaf adaxial face F leaf cross sections. Drawing by S. Brullo from cultivated material coming from the type locality. Darker strips in tepal edges mark the undulations.

Flowering in June and fruiting in June-July.

The species epithet is derived from the name of the Köprülü Kanyon, locality where this geophyte was collected.

All investigated samples of Loncomelos koprulense from the type locality revealed a somatic chromosome complement with 2n = 22 (Fig. 3A). The karyotype is rather asymmetrical, comprising 11 chromosome pairs (Fig. 3B), arranged in two size groups where the submedian type prevails, as highlighted by the values of different symmetric indices (Table 2). In particular, there are 3 metacentric pairs, 3 meta-submetacentric pairs (showing arm ratio exceeding 1.30), and 5 submetacentric pairs (3 big-sized and 2 small-sized). Thus, the chromosome formula can be expressed as 2n = 2x = 22 = 6 m + 6 msm + 10 sm. No evident satellites were detected. Absolute chromosome length varied from 11.1 ± 1.3 μm of the longest chromosome and 4.26 ± 0.3 μm of the shortest one, with a mean chromosome length of 6.99 ± 2.2 μm. Relative chromosome length varied from 7.24% ± 0.8 to 2.78% ± 0.2. Arm index varied on average from 1.03 to 2.76, while the centromeric index ranged from 49.3 to 26.6. All karyomorphometric parameters are given in Table 2.

Figure 3. 

Chromosome complement (2n = 2x = 22) of Loncomelos koprulense A mitotic metaphase plate from the type locality B idiogram.

The known Loncomelos species are usually differentiated by their canaliculate leaves, uniformly colored with dorsi-ventral arrangement, presenting differences in size in the same individual. In particular, the leaf outline is smooth in adaxial faces and more or less ribbed in the abaxial one, with epidermal cells covered by a thickened cuticle; the pallisade tissues is one-layered and distributed along the whole perimeter, while the inner part is occupied by the spongy tissue (Wittmann 1985; Tornadore 1985, 1986; Tornadore and Orza 1987; Lynch et al. 2006; Peruzzi et al. 2007; Öztürk et al. 2014; Bogdanović et al. 2020). The vascular bundles are arranged in two rows all along the mesophyll; large vascular bundles occur in the central part, which are alternated with other smaller one towards the abaxial side. The large bundles are interspersed with mucilage cells that are replaced by rhexigenetic lacunae in the mature leaves. Most species have completely glabrous leaves, except for L. tardum, L. malatyanum (see below for nomenclatural validation) and L. koprulense, showing a dense hairiness on the abaxial face. As a whole, the leaves of L. koprulense maintain the main features of the genus, revealing a marked variability in size; the largest leaves are characterized by 17–18 large vascular bundles, interposed among lacunae; these bundles decrease in number in the progressively narrower leaves up to a minimum of ca. 9, while the number of small vascular bundles coincides with that of the mesophyll lacunae (Fig. 2F). As far as hairs are concerned, they are irregularly distributed along the margin and on the abaxial face.

Loncomelos koprulense seems to be a very rare species currently know only for a single locality of southern Turkey. One small and well circumscribed population was surveyed along the Bozyaka road within the Köprülü Kanyon at about 150 m of elevation (Fig. 4), where it grows on small semi-rocky escarpments covered by a scarce herbaceous vegetation. The woody vegetation near this habitat is represented by a thermophilous maquis characterized by Quercus calliprinos Webb, Olea europaea L. subsp. sylvestris (Mill.) Rouy ex Hegi, Pistacia terebinthus L., Juniperus oxycedrus L., Myrtus communis L., Arbutus andrachne L., Cupressus sempervirens L. etc. (Tavşanoğlu and Coşkun 2009). This area, falling within an important National Park and known as Köprülü Kanyon Milli Parkı between Antalya and Manavgat, is floristically highly rich in endemic species as emphasized by Özçelik (2018).

Figure 4. 

Distribution map of Loncomelos koprulense (square), L. tardum (circle) and L. malatyanum (star).

Turkey. Antalya: District of Manavgat, Köprülü Kanyon National Park, Bozyaka road, cultivated specimen, 24 June 2013, Brullo s.n. (paratype: CAT!).

From the literature data (Zahariadi 1977, 1980; Wittmann 1985; Martínez-Azorín 2008; Martínez-Azorín et al. 2009), the circumscription of the genus Ornithogalum within the tribe Ornithogaleae has always been problematic, emphasizing that the traditional morphological approach is not sufficient to discriminate the taxa at generic level. Recent phylogenetic studies carried out by Pfosser and Speta (1999) and Martínez-Azorín et al. (2011), based on cpDNA and nrDNA gene sequences, have provided a relevant support for a taxonomic arrangement of this tribe, validating the treatment previously proposed by Speta (1998a, b). As concern the genus Loncomelos, it is morphologically well differentiated from Ornithogalum s.str. by numerous and significant characters regarding the inflorescence, pedicel, capsule and seed. From the phytogeographical point of view, this genus is mainly distributed in the Mediterranean area with the higher concentration of species in the Balkan Peninsula and Anatolia. The last territory currently hosts 14 species (included the new one), that therefore can be considered the main centre of differentiation of the genus.

A very peculiar and significant morphological character occurring in Loncomelos koprulense is the densely hairy leaves (Fig. 5D–E). In fact, most species of the genus Loncomelos are characterized by glabrous leaves, while only L. tardum and L. malatyanum have hairs on the leaves. According to Speta (2006) and Mutlu and Karakuş (2012), both species occur in Anatolia too, where they are very rare and quite localized (Fig. 4). They differ from L. koprulense in some relevant morphological features (Table 1), such as the shape and size of the bulbs, number of leaves, inflorescence size, number of raceme flowers, bracts, tepal shape and colour, tepal margin, stamen filament, size and shape of ovary and capsule. Differences were also observed in karyological aspect, since L. tardum is characterized by a chromosome complement of 2n = 2x = 20, reported by Speta (2006), while according to Mutlu and Karakuş (2012) the chromosome number of L. malatyanum is 2n = 2x = 24. We found out that L. koprulense is also a diploid, but its chromosome number is 2n = 2x = 22, which is quite rare in the genus Loncomelos, so far only previously counted in L.fischerianum (Krasch.) Speta by Agapova (1977).

Figure 5. 

Loncomelos koprulense A, B inflorescence C flower D leaf abaxial face E leaf adaxial face from the type locality.

Loncomelos malatyanum (Mutlu) Bogdanović, Brullo & Salmeri comb. nov. ≡ Ornithogalum malatyanum Mutlu in Mutlu and Karakuş Turkish Journal of Botany 36: 126 (2012), basionym.