A NEW SPECIES OF NEPETA L. (LAMIACEAE) FROM IRAN

Nepeta farsica of sect. Psilonepeta Benth., a new species from Fars province in southwest Iran, is described and illustrated. The new species is closely related to N. oxyodonta Boiss., N. bazoftica Jamzad, and N. laxiflora Benth., but can be distinguished from them by morphological and molecular characteristics. Morphologically, N. farsica differs from the close relatives in the inflorescence of many-flowered cymes, condensed at the end of branches, with a few lower verticillasters (vs. lax cymes, few-flowered verticillasters along the branches in N. oxyodonta, N. laxiflora, and N. bazoftica), tomentose indumentum with a few long multicellular hairs  (vs. short, dense canescent-velutinous in N. oxyodonta, glabrous to minutely papillose-glandulous in N. laxiflora, and minutely glandular papillose hairs and long articulated scattered hairs in N. bazoftica), calyx ۱۱-۱۴mm (vs. calyx ۸-۱۰ mm in N. oxyodonta, ۷-۱۰ mm in N. laxiflora; and ۸.۵-۹ mm long in N. bazoftica). The new species also differs from its close relatives in the size of its floral leaves and corolla. In addition, molecular phylogenetic analysis results confirm their differences and show they are closely related compared to other species in the section Psilonepeta. Here we describe the new species and discuss the morphological and molecular differences between it and the closely related species. Illustrations and a distribution map of the new species and its close relatives will be presented.

کلیدواژه ها:

Lamiaceae ، Molecular Phylogeny ، Nepeta ، new species ، sect. Psilonepeta