Ann. Bot. Fennici 48: 145–154 ISSN 0003-3847 (print) ISSN 1797-2442 (online)
Helsinki 29 April 2011 © Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board 2011
Helichrysum unicapitatum (Asteraceae), a new species
from Turkey
Serdar G. Şenol
1,
*, Özcan Secmen
1
, Bintuğ Öztürk
2
&
Mercè Galbany-Casals
3
1)
Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, 35100 Bornova, İzmir, Turkey
(*corresponding author’s e-mail: sgsenol@yahoo.com)
2)
Ege University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, 35100 Bornova,
İzmir, Turkey
3)
Institut Botànic de Barcelona (CSIC-ICUB), Psg. Migdia s/n, ES-08038 Barcelona, Spain
Received 8 Jan. 2009, revised version received 18 Sep. 2009, accepted 22 Sep. 2009
Şenol, S. G., Secmen, Ö., Öztürk, B. & Galbany-Casals, M. 2011: Helichrysum unicapitatum
(Asteraceae), a new species from Turkey. — Ann. Bot. Fennici 48: 145–154.
Helichrysum unicapitatum S.G. Şenol, Ö. Seçmen & B. Öztürk (Asteraceae) is
described and illustrated from the SW province of Anatolia, Turkey. It grows on crys-
talline calcareous rocks between Evran Tepe and Karababa Tepe (1800–2300 m), situ-
ated within the Denizli Babadağ (Cadmus) Mountain Range. Helichrysum compactum
seems to be its closest relative and their affnities are discussed based on morphologi-
cal data and DNA sequences (nrDNA ITS and ETS).
Introductıon
The tribe Gnaphalieae of Asteraceae comprises
185 genera and about 1240 species; it is cos-
mopolitan, but most diverse in the southern
hemisphere (Bayer et al. 2007). Helichrysum is
the largest genus of this tribe, with about 600
species, occurring in Europe, Asia, Africa and
Madagascar (Bayer et al. 2007).
Since Helichrysum was revised by Davis and
Kupicha (1975) and Davis et al. (1988), 18 spe-
cies have been recognized in Turkey. Besides
these works, one new subspecies and four new
species have been described from the country:
H. plicatum subsp. isauricum (Parolly 1995),
H. kitianum (Yıldız & Kit Tan 1988), H. sivasi-
cum (Yıldız & Kit Tan 1988), H. orbicularifo-
lium (Sümbül et. al. 2003) and H. yurterianum
(Gemici et al. 2008). However, according to
Parolly and Eren (2006) H. orbicularifolium is
a synonym of H. chasmolycicum. The author
M. Galbany-Casals and her colleagues, who are
currently working on a taxonomic revision of
Helichrysum sect. Helichrysum, think that H.
kitianum is a synonym of H. graveolens, H.
chionophilum a synonym of H. pallasii, and H.
rubicundum should be considered at the species
level. After these amendments, the total number
of Helichrysum species known from Turkey is
20.
Some specimens of Helichrysum originally
identifed as H. chionophilum were frst collected
by S. Oluk from Denizli (Babadağ), Turkey, in
1996 (EGE 34743). The authors of the present
contribution examined that specimen, which
lacks fowers and fruits. At frst sight, the basal
part looked similar to H. compactum, but the
morphology of the capitula and especially the