Phytotaxa 207 (1): 163–171 ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition) www.mapress.com/phytotaxa/ PHYTOTAXA Copyright © 2015 Magnolia Press Article ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition) http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.207.2.2 Orobanche apuana (Orobanchaceae) a new species endemic to Italy GIANNIANTONIO DOMINA1* & ADRIANO SOLDANO2 1 Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, via Archirafi 38, 90123 Palermo, Italy; e-mail: [email protected] 2 Largo Brigata Cagliari 6, 13100 Vercelli, Italy *author for correspondence Abstract Orobanche apuana, a new species belonging to Orobanche sect. Orobanche, is described and illustrated from the Apuan Alps, Central Italy. Its relationships with the other species of the group of O. caryophyllacea (O. grex Galeatae) and with other Orobanche that parasitize Santolina species are examined. The names Boulardia latisquama, Orobanche lutea and O. teucrii are here lectotypified. Key words: broomrape, Santolina pinnata, Mediterranean flora Introduction Orobanche Linnaeus (1752: 632), as unanimously accepted by all modern studies (Carlón et al. 2008, Crespo & Pujadas 2006, Domina 2009, Schneeweiss et al. 2004a, 2004b), in Europe and the Mediterranean area includes at least two well distinct groups from the morphological and karyological points of view. Despite this, researchers are divided with regard to the nomenclature to be used by grouping this taxon under a single genus with different sections (Crespo & Pujadas 2006, Domina 2009) or under different genera (Schneeweiss et al. 2004a, 2004b, Carlón et al. 2008). The taxonomic research on Orobanche s.l. in Europe is in full progress. In the last years, relationships between several taxa have been studied from the taxonomic and biological points of view (Jeanmonod 2007, Carlón et al. 2008, Piwowarczyk et al. 2014). These studies led to the discovery of new localities and to the description of new taxa (i.e. Pujadas-Salvà & Arguimbau 2008, Nobis et al. 2014a, 2014b). In Europe and the Mediterranean area 124 species are known: 43 belonging to Orobanche sect. Trionychon Wallroth (1822: 314) and 81 to Orobanche L. sect. Orobanche (Domina & Raab-Straube 2010 onwards). In Italy 40 (9+31) species occurs (Domina 2015). Four of them are endemic to very restricted areas: Orobanche australis Bertoloni (1846: 440) and O. denudata Moris (1828: [1]) in Sardinia; O. ebuli Huter & Rigo in Huter (1907: 354) in Central Italy, O. chironii Lojacono-Pojero (1878: 12) and O. thapsoides Lojacono-Pojero (1882: 60) in Sicily. During the revision of this genus in the Mediterranean, from the nomenclatural and taxonomic points of view (Domina et al. 2005, Domina & Arrigoni 2007, Domina & Mazzola 2007, 2009, Domina & Raimondo 2009, Domina & Stepanek 2009, Domina & Mazzola 2011, Domina et al. 2011, 2013, Domina & Danin 2014), we studied plants collected in the Apuan Alps in Central Italy. After meticulous field research and herbarium studies, we realized that this species belongs to the group of Orobanche caryophyllacea Smith (1798: 169) (O. grex Galeatae Beck 1930: 222) but we have not found in herbaria or in literature material referable to this taxon. So, we decided to describe it as a new species to science and to name it Orobanche apuana. Material and Methods This plant was first collected during a field trip to the Apuan Alps by Adriano Soldano in 1996. Although the place where this broomrape was found, along the Via Vandelli, on the western slope of Mt. Tambura, is one of the tracks that are mostly used by hikers and naturalists in the Apuan Alps, no records of broomrape referable to this species can be Accepted by Lorenzo Peruzzi: 14 Apr. 2015; published: 8 May 2015 163 found in the local floras (Baroni 1897–1908, Pellegrini 1941, Ferrarini 1967, Barbero & Bono 1973, Ferrarini et al. 1997, Ansaldi & Maccioni 2006), in the Floras and checklists of Italy (Bertoloni 1846, Caruel 1884, Béguinot 1902, Pignatti 1982, Conti et al. 2005) or in the main floras and checklists of Europe (Chater & Webb 1972, Greuter et al. 1989, Domina & Raab-Straube 2010 onwards) and monographs (Beck 1890, 1930). We verified in the BOLO, FI, PAL, PI, RO and TO herbaria (acronyms follow Thiers 20015) that host the largest collections from this area and Italy; but no material referable to this taxon was found. Further excursions were done in the same place during the last years to observe its ecology and distribution. The new species is here compared with the type material of the species related by morphology or sharing the same host. The measures and character states of the compared taxa are taken directly from the studied specimens. This to preserve the taxa delimitation in their author’s sense. For O. apuana further observations and measures were done in the field on about 30 living individuals. In the typifications when a part of the handwriting in the labels was illegible it is reported here as […]. The handwritings of Baumgarten, Durieu and Holandre were identified by direct comparison with those in the herbarium labels of specimens of reliable source housed in P. Description of the new species Orobanche apuana Domina & Soldano, spec. nov. (Figs. 1, 2) Type:—ITALY. Apuan Alps, Via Vandelli (Massa), 44°05’48”N, 10°13’09”E, 920 m a.s.l., dry pastures on carbonate lithosol, on Santolina pinnata Viv., 13 July 2014, A. Soldano 16532 (holotype PAL!, isotypes FI!, Herb. Soldano!). Plant 15–30 cm tall with stem slender and erect, reddish-brown or yellow-brown, densely glandular-pubescent, laxly scaled. Lower scales triangular to oval, sparsely glandular pubescent; upper scales linear-lanceolate and sparsely glandular-pubescent, brown, erect. Inflorescence short and lax with 10–25 flowers. Bracteoles absent. Floral bract reddish-brown or yellow-brown, glandular pubescent, acute, about as long as or slightly shorter than the corolla, deflexed in the distal part. Calyx segments entire or bifid, 8–12 mm long, with teeth shorter than the tube, the upper tooth longer than the lower one or subequal. Flowers erect-spreading at first, bent forward later, with few purple veins. Corolla 17–24 mm long, inflated above the insertion of the stamens. Dorsal line of the corolla slightly curved in the lower part, almost straight in the middle and strongly flexed forwards near the upper lip. Upper lip of the corolla almost entire or slightly emarginated in two crenate lobes, with glandular hairs. Lower lip of the corolla with three, equal, crenate, deflexed lobes. Stamen inserted 3–5 mm above the base of the corolla, with filaments pubescent at the base. Anthers pubescent in the line of fusion. Style glandular-pubescent; stigma yellow, bilobate. Host:—Orobanche apuana is exclusively parasitic on the Apuan Alps endemic Santolina pinnata Viviani (1802: 31) (Asteraceae). The latter name, although dismissed by Garbari & Bechi (1992) and Peruzzi et al. (2014, 2015), is correct, because its alleged earlier homonym S. pinnata Donn (1800: 107) is not validly published (see, in particular, Art. 38.2 Ex. 3 of the ICN, McNeill et al. 2012). Flowering time:—Flowering and fruiting from late June, at lower altitudes, to early August in the higher ones. Ecology and Distribution:—Orobanche apuana was collected on the Apuan Alps, on the western slopes of Monte Tambura from 600 to 1200 m a.s.l. on sunny carbonate rocks and dry pastures on lithosol. A photo of this plant from Campocecina (Massa-Carrara), at 1250 m, the 11.07.2010, by Melania Marchi was seen also on the forum of Acta Plantarum (http://www.actaplantarum.org/floraitaliae/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=19583&p=133289&hilit=orobanche+c ampocecina#p133289). It is it plausible that O. apuana grows also in other localities of the Apuan Alps where its host, S. pinnata occurs locally abundant from 500 to 1500 m on pioneer thermo-xerophilous formations of cliffs with open woods. This vegetation hosts a rich component of taxa endemic to Central and Northern Italy (Ansaldi & Maccioni 2006), as Moltkia suffruticosa (Linnaeus 1763: 1667) Brand (1902: 1999) subsp. bigazziana Peruzzi & Soldano (2010: 385), Buphthalmum salicifolium Linnaeus (1753: 904) subsp. flexile (Bertoloni 1854: 413) Garbari (1971: 191), Leontodon anomalus Ball (1850: 9), Silene pichiana Ferrarini & Cecchi (2001: 246), Rhamnus glaucophylla Sommier (1894: 19). Further specimens seen (paratype):—ITALY. Via Vandelli (Massa), 44°05’48”N, 10°13’09”E, 920 m a.s.l., on Santolina pinnata Viv., July 1996, A. Soldano (Herb. Soldano!). 164 • Phytotaxa 207 (2) © 2015 Magnolia Press DOMINA & SOLDANO FIGURE 1. Orobanche apuana: a) habit; b) floral bracts; c) calyx segments; d) frontal view of the corolla; e) flower; f) corolla in section; g) pistil; h) seeds (Drawings by G. Domina on the original material). Taxonomic relationships:—By the curvature of the dorsal line of the corolla, bent, straight and humped near the apex, this species can be ascribed to the group of O. caryophyllacea Sm. (O. grex Galeatae G.Beck). Schneeweiss et al. (2004a) consider the character of the shape of the dorsal line of the corolla unstable and, on the basis of nuclear ITS sequences, demonstrated that this group is polyphyletic. In fact, in Italy, it includes O. caryophyllacea Smith (1798: 169), O. lutea Baumgarten (1816: 215) and O. teucrii Holandre (1829: 322) that are morphologically close, but in the West part of the Mediterranean region also O. latisquama (Schultz 1848: 104) Battandier (1890: 659) occurs, that is OROBANCHE APUANA A NEW SPECIES ENDEMIC to Italy Phytotaxa 207 (2) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 165 a quite different taxon (Carlón et al. 2008). Orobanche apuana can be distinguished from the other species similar to O. caryophyllacea by the shape and the reduced size of the corolla, the shape of the calyx, the colour of the plant when dry and the shape of the floral bract (Fig. 3). The diagnostic characters are summarized in Table 1.