Cephalaria gokturkii (Caprifoliaceae), a new species from southwestern Anatolia, Türkiye

Abstract

A new Cephalaria (Caprifoliaceae) species, Cephalaria gokturkii, is described and illustrated from Girdev Mountain (Mu & gbreve;la Province) for the Flora of T & uuml;rkiye. Throughout this manuscript, the new species and its relatives were compared in terms of morphological, palynological and molecular features. The obtained findings indicated that the new species is similar to C. elmaliensis but is characterized by having larger capitula and receptacular bracts in flower (vs. 1-2 cm capitula and less than 3 mm in flower) and hairy trigonous-narrowly ovate involucral bracts (vs. glabrous and broadly ovate involucral bracts) and smaller involucels (vs. involucels longer than 10 mm in fruit). Although the new species is similar to C. elmaliensis in terms of pollen shape and general appearance, its pollens are larger in terms of mean equatorial diameter and polar axis. Following morphological data, molecular analyses (based on ITS and trnL introns) indicated that the phylogenetically closest relative of the species is also C. elmaliensis . Additionally, we report that taxonomic notes for this new species are provided, including distribution, ecology, and conservation status.