Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 140, 181–186. With 3 figures INTRODUCTION The genus Echinops (Compositae) is widespread in Iran (Von Bunge, 1863; Boissier, 1875; Bornmuller, 1918). According to Rechinger (1979), there are 36 endemic species in the Flora Iranica area. The present study raises this number to 39. Species of Echinops are usually anthropophilous or ruderal plants. They are found in fields, on the margins of roads and other waste places, or, less frequently, in conserved habitats, usually in mountainous areas. Despite the high number of endemic species in Iran, specimens are comparatively scarce in herbaria. Many botanists avoid collecting them due to their prickliness, and conservation of collected specimens is difficult because mature inflorescences break into pieces on drying. Most collections carry young cap- itula that are very difficult to identify – precise determination requires well-developed capitula. Due to the lack of ripe material and, in part, to the very few reliable taxonomic characters (limited in fact to the bracts of the individual capitula of the synflores- cence), many changes have been introduced to the species circumscription as provided in Boissier (1875) by Rechinger (1979). In recent years, extensive collec- tions of new material of Echinops have been made, especially from type localities (c. 2000 herbarium samples, all of them preserved in TARI.) In the course of the identification of these newly collected speci- mens, three new species belonging to sect. Oligolepis Bunge are described here. ECHINOPS LONGIPENICILLATUS MOZAFF. & GHAHR. SP. NOV. (FIG.1 ) Sect. Oligolepis Bunge Planta perennis, multicaulis, 20–40 cm alta. Caulis adpresse albo-tomentosus, pro tota longitudine folia- tus, plus minusve flexosus, internodis abbreviatis, eramosus vel superne pauciramosus, plerumque monocephalus. Folia omnia coriacea, discoloria, supra flavescenti-virentia, glabra vel laxe araneosa, ner- vatura valde prominenti, flavescenti, subtus niveo- tomentosa, nervis valde prominentibus; folia basalia mox decidua vel mox marcescentia; folia caulina infe- riora ambitu oblongo-lanceolata, 8–10 cm longa, usque ad 6 cm lata, sinuato-lobata, lobis utrinque plerumque usque ad 4–6, triangularibus, quoque lobo in spinam terminalem 1.5–2 cm longam vulnerantem aurantia- cam excurrenti; folia caulina basalia eis inferioribus © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 140, 181–186 181 Three new species of Echinops (Compositae, Cynareae) from Iran V. MOZAFFARIAN 1 * and A. GHAHREMAN 2 1 Department of Botany, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, PO Box 13185-116, Tehran, Iran 2 Central Herbarium of Tehran University, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, PO Box 1454-19395, Tehran, Iran Received September 2001; accepted for publication April 2002 As a result of extensive collections and subsequent determinations made in recent years through most regions of Iran (now preserved in herbarium TARI), three new species of Echinops (E. longipenicillatus, E. procerus and E. shahrudensis) are described and illustrated. All belong to E. sect. Oligolepis Bunge, which is endemic to Iran. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 140, 181–186. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: distribution – endemics. – sect. Oligolepis – taxonomy. *Corresponding author. E-mail: mozaffar@rifr-ac.org Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article-abstract/140/2/181/2433608 by guest on 17 June 2020