A new subspecies of Saxifraga artvinensis V.A.Matthews (Saxifragaceae) from northeastern Anatolia

Abstract

Saxifraga artvinensis V.A.Matthews, which is endemic to Turkey, was discovered on Tiryal Mountain (A8 Artvin, northeasternTurkey). Approximately 175 km from its type locality, a new population of the species was discovered, in the Picea orientalis forest inthe Altındere Valley National Park, in A7 Trabzon (northeastern Turkey). A comparison with the known population of S. artvinensisconfirmed that this new population represented a new taxon and is described as S. artvinensis subsp. meryemii Terzioğlu & Coşkunç. Anidentification key and comparison with closely related taxa, based on both morphological and molecular properties, are also provided.The studied samples, belonging to subsp. artvinensis and subsp. meryemii, had identical sequences in the entire internal transcribedspacer region. On the other hand, subsp. meryemii was easily distinguishable from subsp. artvinensis by its hairy flowering stem, 3–8flowers, subsessile pedicels, and sepals hairy at base.