Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Introduction Iridaceae is a family of plants in order of Asparagales, which is named by a reference to irises, which means a rainbow that denotes an array of colors. There are 92 (66 accepted) genera with a total of 2244 species worldwide. It embraces a plethora of other renowned cultivated plants, such as Iris, Freesias, Gladiola and Crocus. 1,2 The genus Crocus Linnaeus is a scientifcally challenging genus that belongs to the huge family of Iridaceae (1753:36) that is designated by its sophisticated and stylish fowers. 3,4 The name of the genus originates from the Latin word crocatus which means saffron yellow. 5 Crocus taxa have a central place among the geophyte plants. Due to their extravagant fowers, they are utilized as ornamental plants in the balconies, terraces and roof gardens (especially, C. baytopiorum, ssp. mazziaricus, ssp. lycius and ssp. damascenus). 6 Crocus is a vital plant used since thousands of years 7 whereby it owes to its high demand in dye, perfumery, pharmaceutical and favoring industries. 8 It is also used in some countries as a main ingredient in making cheese and as a spice used in cooking. The extract of Crocus taxa has antitumor, antimutagenic and cytototic activities and it is recently used for treating Behçet and gut diseases, treatment of joint pains, and cancer. It was used also in Unani and Arabic medicine long time ago. 6 Phytogeographically, most Crocus species belong to and are distributed in the Mediterranean foristic basin including (Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine), South Western Europe, South-Western parts of Asia, Western part of China and Irano-Turanian phytochorion. 9–13 Genus Crocus (Iridaceae) comprises 235 taxa, 14 221 species, and 97 subspecies 15 distributed in the Mediterranean region. The most essential monographic treatments of the genus Crocus Linnaeus (1753: 36) was published by Mathew (1982), “A Revision of the Genus Crocus”, in which he divided it into two subgenera, two sections and 15 series. 16 The two subgenera are subgenus Crocus with extrose anthers and subgenus Crociris with introse anthers. Crociris encompasses only Crocus banaticus and the subgenus Crocus includes all the remaining species. The subgenus Crocus is also divided into two sections: section Crocus and section Nudiscapus, and each is again divided into Series a–f and g–o, respectively. 17 The Genus crocus is systematically problematic. 3 The taxonomy of Crocus is tremendously intricate due to the lack of vibrant idiosyncratic characters, the extensive variety of habitats, and the heterogeneity of the morphological traits and cytological data. 18 Detailed feld, morphological, and molecular genetic studies on the MOJ Eco Environ Sci. 2019;4(2):75‒83. 75 © 2019 Addam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Crocus baalbekensis K. Addam & M. Bou Hamdan sp. Nov and its three forms (IRIDACEAE), new endemic species and forms from Lebanon, joined the Lebanese Flora Volume 4 Issue 2 - 2019 Khodr Addam, 1 Mounir Bou-Hamdan, 2 Nisreen Sabbagh, 2 Jihad Takkoush, 3 Kamal Hout 4 1 Head, Integrative and Environmental Research Center, AUL Beirut, Lebanon ²Integrative Research and Environmental Center, AUL Beirut, Lebanon 3 Dean of Business Research Center, AUL Beirut, Lebanon 4 Department of PG Studies & Scientifc Research, Global University Beirut, Lebanon Correspondence: Khodr Addam, Head, Integrative and Environmental Research Center, AUL Beirut, Lebanon, Tel 009613204930, Email Received: March 16, 2019 | Published: April 05, 2019 Abstract Crocus baalbekensis K. Addam & M. Bou Hamdan sp. Nov is nominated as a novel species in addition to its three forms from Baalbek District, northeast of Lebanon. The new species resembles Crocus aleppicus and Crocus hyemalis but varies in terms of phytogeography, phenology, and some taxonomic structures such as (corm, tunic, leaves, and shape of the perianth, segment and others). Thousands of this new species were perceived in countless villages in the northern city of Baalbek. It grows in cold semi-arid climates in stony grasslands, tundra where trees are absent. Plant material and morphological analyses were done, measurements, colors, and other details given in the description are based on both herbarium and fresh materials. Morphological data were taken from more than 10 specimens. The fower is 1-6, 30-40mm tall, white, fragrant (Fresia smell), corm oblong conical about 20-26mm x 14-20mm in diameter. Corm tunic 4-10 layers, brown, extended neck 10- 20mm, great build-up of old tunics, coarse parallel fbers, not glued together, with cross- links. Leaves 4-12 (present at fowering), green, glabrous, white stripe about 1/4 of leaf keels, Spathe, 3-4, membranous white to pale yellow pipe. Outer perianth segment, 3, oblanceolate, abaxial side is colored by yellow, mottled by dark blue–violet, middle (1 to 3) stripe of dark violates veins continue to the segment, flament, 3, deep yellow, Anther, wide, arrow shape, longitudinally striped in black and yellow. Style 1, deep yellow to orange, sometimes striped by thinner black lines, divided to 3 stigmas, equal or longer than the stamen. Stigma (each one) is branched to 3-6 short strands. Voucher specimen (Holotype) is deposited in K. Addam’s Herbarium Arts, Sciences and Technology University in Lebanon, Accession No.: 22-1-17-58-001. The three forms resemble Crocus baalbekensis but differ in the color of the tepals. Keywords: crocus baalbekensis, crocus baalbekensis f. assiensis, bella, ornata, iridaceae, taxonomy, Baalbek region, Lebanon, Mediterranean MOJ Ecology & Environmental Sciences Research Article Open Access