www.biodicon.com Biological Diversity and Conservation ISSN 1308-8084 Online; ISSN 1308-5301 Print 7/2 (2014) 1-28 Research article/Araştırma makalesi Taxonomic revision of the genus Convolvulus L. (Convolvulaceae) in Turkey Candan AYKURT *, Hüseyin SÜMBÜL Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Akdeniz, Antalya, Turkey Abstract The genus Convolvulus, which is represented with 33 species (36 taxa) in the Flora of Turkey, was evaluated to be comprised of 39 taxa, three of which are hybrid, in this study. Morphological characters of the 39 Convolvulus taxa, which were collected and examined in situ at different localities in Turkey during the period of 2006-2010, were investigated. Additionally, the threat categories of each taxon according to IUCN were evaluated. C. pulvinatus was indicated as a synonym of C. phrygius in the List of Turkey Plants (Vascular Plants); the reasons for the combination of these species were discussed in the present study. Keys to species, subspecies and varieties, and synonymy, detailed morphometric descriptions, illustrations and distribution maps are provided for most of the taxa. Key words: Convolvulus, revision, taxonomy, threat category, Turkey ---------- ---------- Türkiye Convolvulus L. (Convolvulaceae) cinsinin taksonomik revizyonu Özet Türkiye Florası’nda 33 tür (36 takson) ile temsil edilen Convolvulus cinsi, bu çalışmayla 3 tanesi hibrit olmak üzere toplam 39 takson olarak değerlendirildi. Türkiye’nin farklı lokasyonlarından 2006-2010 yıllarında arasında toplanan Convolvulus cinsine ait 39 taksona ait morfolojik karakterler incelendi. Ayrıca, her taksonun tehlike kategorisi IUCN kriterlerine göre belirlendi. Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiker)’nde C. phrygius türünün sinonimi olarak belirtilen C. puvinatus türünün, sinonim yapılma nedenleri bu çalışmada ayrıntılı biçimde tartışıldı. Türlere, alttürlere ve varyetelere ait teşhis anahtarları, bu taksonların sinonimleri, ayrıntılı morfolojik betimleri, çizimleri ve çoğu taksona ait yayılış haritaları sunuldu. Anahtar kelimeler: Convolvulus, revizyon, taksonomi, tehlike kategorisi, Türkiye 1. Introduction Convolvulaceae are a large family, comprising approximately of 58 genera and 2000 species (Staples and Yang, 1998), exhibiting a large diversity of morphological characters and occupying a broad range of ecological habitats (Stefanović et al., 2002). Convolvulaceae members are primarily tropical plants, with many of the genera endemic to tropical zones of individual contents (Austin, 1998). Convolvulus L., the second largest genus of the family, has about 250 species distributed in the temperate and tropical regions of the world (Cronquist, 1981). The Convolvulus species were revised by Parris (1978) in the ‘Flora of Turkey and East Aegean Islands’. As stated in the “Flora of Turkey”, there were 32 species, 3 imperfectly known species in Turkey, and one more species, which was described later (Davis et al., 1988); and 9 of them were endemic to Turkey. Twenty three species are recognized in Flora Europaea (Stace, 1972), 11 species and 1 natural hybrid in the Flora of Cyprus (Meikle, 1985), 57 in Flora Iranica (Rechinger, 1979), 22 in Lebanon and Syria (Mouterde, 1986), 21 in Palestine (Feinbrun-Dothan, 1978), 21 in Israel (Danin, 2004), 17 in California (Munz and Keck, 1975) and 7 in China (Rhui-cheng and Staples, 1995). According to Al-Alawi (1987), the probable centre of diversity for the genus Convolvulus is in South-Eastern Asia (Turkey, Iraq and Iran) owing to the presence of a large number of species, several of which are endemic to that region. Indeed, according to Sa’ad (1967) the most primitive ancestor of the species was distributed in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula. In Turkey, the first and the only revision study concerning the Convolvulus species had been carried out by the late botanist Kamil Karamanoğlu in 1964. In his revision study, he indicated that approximately 25-30 species of the genus Convolvulus were spread around in Turkey and he described the 22 most commonly encountered species among them (Karamanoğlu, 1964). Sa’ad described 118 species of the genus Convolvulus in her work named ‘The Convolvulus Species of the Canary Isles, the Mediterranean Region and the Near and the Middle East’ and she divided these species into three different categories; sectioned as ‘Acanthocladi Boiss.’, ‘Inermes Boiss.’ and ‘Convolvulus’ based on the presence of spines and their outer appearances. She divided * Corresponding author / Haberleşmeden sorumlu yazar: Tel.: +902423102237; Fax.: +902423102237; E-mail: [email protected] © 2008 All rights reserved / Tüm hakları saklıdır BioDiCon. 333-0613 Biological Diversity and Conservation – 7 / 2 (2014) 11 these categories into 12 subsections and 4 series based on their habits and their significant morphological characters such as inflorescence. She treated the spiny shrublet species as Acanthocladi. Carine et al. (2004) reported in their studies, in which they evaluated the phylogenetic associations of the Convolvulus species spread in Macaronesia from a molecular point of view, that the Acanthocladi would not be a monophyletic group as suggested by Sa’ad but were highly polyphyletic and that the spine characters of the spiny shrublet species in the Canary Islands, Western and the Eastern Mediterranean were non-homologous, thus procuring them to evaluate the species under two taxonomic titles. Consequently the perennial nonclimbing species, most of which are shrubs and sub-shrubs with sessile leaves, were included in clade A; and the annual or perennial herbs and suffrutescent plants typically with a climbing or trailing characters and petiolate leaves were included in clade B (Carine et al., 2004). The genus Convolvulus, which is represented with 33 species (36 taxa) in the Flora of Turkey, was evaluated as 39 taxa, three of which are hybrid, in the present study. The morphological characters of the 39 taxa of the Convolvulus genus were investigated in the context of this study. The morphological measurements and the observations were carried out on approximately 2000 herbarium specimens, which were collected during field trips and dried as stated in the herbarium techniques. In addition, a large number of herbarium specimens of the genus Convolvulus that were present in remarkable herbaria in Turkey were also evaluated in this study.. 2. Materials and methods This study is mainly based on the examination of nearly 2000 herbarium specimens, which were collected from different localities in Turkey between 2006 and 2010, in addition to the Convolvulus specimens and the Convolvulus collections from several herbaria in Turkey including mainly AKDU, as well as ANK, GAZI, HUB, ISTE, ISTF, EGE, MUH and VANF (acronyms according to Thiers (2008). Besides, the photographs of all the Convolvulus samples in Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Museum (B) and Royal Botanic Garden (E) were obtained and the photoprahps belonging to the numerous herbarium samples including 23 types of the genus Convolvulus were evaluated. Many of the species were studied in the field, particularly noting down the habit, flower colour and the indumentum type. The morphological measurements were made on the herbarium materials comprised of specimens collected from their natural habitats in this study. These specimens were identified using the Flora of Turkey (Parris, 1978; Davis, 1988), the flora of various countries (namely Post, 1932; Stace, 1972; Meikle, 1985; Rechinger, 1979; Mouterde, 1986; Feinbrun-Dothan, 1978; Munz and Keck, 1975; Rhui-cheng and Staples, 1995) and other studies on this genus (including Sa’ad, 1967; Karamanoğlu, 1964; Stace, 1971). The threat category assessment of each taxon was made as stated in the IUCN criteria (IUCN, 2001). Also Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria were used for the assessments (IUCN, 2008). The descriptions of the species which their threat categories were evaluated as CR, VU and NT are given in the text. Some species like C. arvensis are widespread and collected from numerous localities in almost every region in Turkey. Therefore, locations of every species are not provided in the text. The distribution maps and the line drawings are provided for most of the taxa. 3. Results 3.1. Diagnostic key to the genus Convolvulus in Turkey 1 Stem erect, ascending or prostrate, sometimes cushion forming perennials, shrublets or shrubs; leaves usually attenuate at base; filaments entire…………………................................................................................................Group A 1 Stem generally climbing or trailing, annuals or perennials; leaves generally distinctly petiolate; filaments with sessile glands at the base of dilated part……. ………………………………..…………………………….………..…....Group B Group A 1 Leaves cuneate, truncate or slightly cordate at base, eliptic to broadly ovate…………………………………….…..2 1 Leaves attenuate at base, linear-lanceolate to sphatulate……………………………………………………...………5 2 Bracteoles absent………………………………………….……………………………………...……...…5. C. aucheri 2 Bracteoles present……………………………………………………………………………….……………..………3 3 Stem and leaves pilose; sepals green at apex ……….…………………………………….……..…20. C. pilosellifolius 3 Stem and leaves with lanate indumentum; sepals concolor ...…………………………………………………….……4 4 Leaves markedly reticulate veined on lower surface; outer sepals 10–15 x 2–2.5 mm; seeds hairy…....2. C. reticulatus 4 Leaves not markedly veined; outer sepals 8–10 x 3.5–4.5 mm; seeds glabrous………….............................1.