NUSANTARA BIOSCIENCE ISSN: 2087-3948 Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 174-179 E-ISSN: 2087-3956 November 2016 DOI: 10.13057/nusbiosci/n080208 Short Communication: New record of Linum austriacum var. album from Iran SEYED MEHDI TALEBI 1, ♥ , MASOUD SHEIDAI 2 , MITRA NOORI 1 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Arak University, Arak, 38156-8-8349, Markazi, Iran. Tel.: +98-863-4173317. ♥ email: seyedmehdi_talebi@yahoo.com 2 Faculty of Biological Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran Manuscript received: 2 February 2016. Revision accepted: 18 August 2016. Abstract. Talebi SM, Sheidai M, Noori M. 2016. Short Communication: New record of Linum austriacum var. album from Iran. Nusantara Bioscience 8: 174-179. Different infraspecific taxa were described for Linum austriacum in various flora all over the world, while no verity/subspecies was recorded for this species in Iran. In the present study, for the first time, a new variety of the species, in the name of L. austriacum var. album were introduced for Iran. This variety was found in near Famenin city in Hamadan province. Comparison of morphological and phytochemical traits of var. album with its two nearest taxa, Linum austriacum var. austriacum and L. glaucum, showed that the main morphological difference of this variety with L. austriacum var. austriacum was the petal color, however most of morphological characteristics of var. album were bigger than var. austriacum. In addition, the kinds as well as amount of flavonoids differed between the studied taxa Keywords: L. austriacum var. album, flavonoid, morphology, new record. INTRODUCTION The genus Linum of Linaceae family consists of over 180 species, some of these species are garden ornamentals (for example Linum perenne L.) because of their absorbing flowers, in addition some species, such as L. usitatissimum L., are used for nutrition, medicine, as source of linseed oil as well as fibers (McDill et al. 2009). Linum austriacum L. is one of these species, with deflexed fruiting pedicels and living generally in xeric habitats (Peruzzi 2011). Mohagheghzadeh et al. (2002) stated that L. austriacum is an herbaceous medicinal plant containing some important lignans such as aryl naphthalene, lignan and justicidin. These compounds show antifungal, antiprotozoal and also cytotoxic properties (Gertsch et al. 2003). Linum austriacum is widely distributed all over the word, such as Europe, Russia, Crimea, Caucasus, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkey (Yilmaz and Kaynak 2008). Because of the wide distribution, high morphological variations exist in different populations of this species, therefore there were many discussions about infraspecific variations in this species and different taxonomic ranks such as subspecies/variety were definite for it in different flora. For example, Davis (1967) recognized two subspecies, namely subsp. austriacum as well as subsp. glaucescens, in Flora of Turkey. Ascherson and Graebner (1914) identified three subspecies in this species: subsp. squamulosum, subsp. austriacum and subsp. collinum, but this member of Linum perenne group has two subspecies (subsp. austriacum, subsp. collinum) in Flora of Europe (Ockendon and Walters 1968; Ockendon 19681971). L. austriacum L. subsp. marschallianum (Juz.) Greuter & Burdet as well as L. austriacum subsp. austriacum are reported from Flora of Crime (Rescher et al. 2007). L. austriacum subsp. tommasinii (Rchb.) Greuter & Burdet was recorded from Istria. In addition, L. austriacum subsp. euxinum (Juz.) Ockendon and subsp. mauritanicum (Pommel.) Maire were identified in different flora. While in some flora, especially Flora Iranica (Rechinger 1974) and Flora of Iran (Sharifnia and Assadi 2001), no infraspecific taxon was reported of L. austriacum. However, in this paper we introduced one member of the genus Linum namely L. austriacum var. album. This variety was recently found in Iran and therefore is a new record for the country. Furthermore, its morphological and phytochemical characteristics were compared with its two Iranian closet taxa; L. austriacum var. austriacum and L. glaucum. MATERIALS AND METHODS In the present study, morphological as well as phytochemical features of three Linum taxa, L. austriacum var. austriacum, L. austriacum var. album and L. glaucum, were investigated. Plant samples were collected from natural populations during spring 2014. Plant specimens were identified on the bases of provided descriptions in valuable references such as Flora Iranica and Flora of Iran. Vouchers are deposited in the herbarium of Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. Morphological studies Morphometric examinations were performed on one population of each taxon. In total fifteen qualitative and quantitative morphological traits were studied. From each