Notes on recent changes in Crocus species' ID

[Janis Ruksans]

There are few new crocus species and some oldies returning in just recently published large collective work of scientists from several countries. The subject of research was Crocus reticulatus sensu lato. It was not great surprise due huge area from where Crocus reticulatus s.l. was known - from SE Turkey through Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Balkans to Italy.
As with many “oldies” - it is not easy to find what just must be regarded as typical species. The same is with Crocus reticulatus, too. As type locality is mentioned “near Caucasus” what is very wide concept. There were compared DNA of many gatherings throughout area and was found that samples from Georgia, Stavropol and Bessarabia (Moldavia) all belongs to same genotype and as they are growing along Caucasus + disjunct locality in Bessarabia - those are regarded as  type Crocus reticulatus.

[Janis Ruksans]

There was gathering from surroundings of Mariupol in Azov steppe by my friend Dima Zubov - region not easy to reach now due activities of terrorist gangs supported by Russia. Fortunately Dima sent me good stock of it. Surprisingly again but this one turned identical to sample collected by HKEP in Danube valley in Serbia. Just the last one was selected as type for new species Crocus danubensis. Again it is sample of disjunct area.

[Janis Ruksans]

Plants from Italy, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Hungary got back their old name Crocus variegatus. Slovenian sample was collected by my friend Izidor Golob from Šentilj

[Janis Ruksans]

Since 1983 when Brian Mathew published his survey of Greek crocuses some new species were discovered in Greece and one of them growing in Macedonia was identified as Crocus reticulatus. Now DNA checking confirmed that it is new, different species and got new name Crocus orphei.

[Janis Ruksans]

Other novelties come from Turkish region. Of course there was confirmed independent status of Crocus hittiticus (still it is possible that under this name are hided two different crocuses).

[Janis Ruksans]

Completely new is Crocus filis-maculatis with black spotted filaments. I never found it in wild. Region from where it comes I usually visited late in season when crocus leaves were died or grazed off, so only very occasional specimens from area were collected and between those were no one of this new crocus. But during one of my first trips to Turkey (BATM trip) we collected few corms of crocus with reticulated tunic which we registered as C. cancellatus (BATM-402) but later turned that there are 2 species under this number and the other now got back its very old name given by Boissier in 1859 - Crocus micranthus. Later it was placed as var. micranthus of C. variegatus by G. Maw, but now it got back its old name. Another gathering of this species I got from my Czech friend and I grew it for long as “C. hittiticus with yellow anthers” because it was collected in area from where usually C. hittiticus comes.

[Maggi Young]

Janis, these notes on recent re-identification and re-defining of some Crocus species are most interesting and I have made a new thread for these posts.

I think the paper Janis refers to is this one :
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266897153_Phylogeny_geographic_distribution_and_new_taxonomic_circumscription_of_the_Crocus_reticulatus_species_group_%28Iridaceae

Phylogeny, geographic distribution and new taxonomic circumscription of the Crocus reticulatus species group (Iridaceae)
Doerte Harpke; Lorenzo Peruzzi; Helmut Kerndorff; Theofanis Karamplianis; Theofanis Constantinidis;
Vladimir Randelovic; Novica Randelovic; Marina Juskovic; Erich Pasche; Frank R. Blattner

Turkish Journal of Botany. 09/2014; DOI: 10.3906/bot-1405-60

ABSTRACT
Recent phylogenetic analyses proved several infrageneric units within the genus Crocus to be para- or polyphyletic. In an attempt to arrive at a system of Crocus that closely reflects species relationships, we provide here phylogenetic, morphometric, geographic and nomenclatorial data for the species of a narrower defined, monophyletic Crocus series Reticulati. We sequenced the ETS and ITS regions of the nuclear ribosomal DNA in 9 Reticulati and 19 outgroup species. Three chloroplast loci (trnL–F, rps16–trnQ, matK–trnK) were sequenced in the newly defined series Reticulati species and 1 outgroup. Data were analyzed with Bayesian and parsimony algorithms. The phylogenies resulted in two clearly separated, geographically defined species groups within series Reticulati. The southern one comprising only the taxa from Turkey, while the species of the second group are distributed from Italy in the west through the areas north of the Black Sea to the Caucasus in the east. To arrive at monophyletic species we describe here C. danubensis sp. nov., C. filis-maculatis sp. nov., and C. orphei sp. nov. as new species, and define C. reticulatus s.s. to comprise only the populations in the area north and east of the Black Sea.

[krisderaeymaeker]

What a great advantage to keep informed trough the forum !
Thanks Janis and Maggi ! 

Hopefully this result later on in an other article for the IRG.

[Otto Fauser]

Janis , great photos of yours as always . Thank you for sharing the news with us of the newly described and reclassified species . It will most likely take another life time (or two ) till all species are discovered .

     and thanks Maggi for drawing our attention to the taxonomic paper link . It was Doerte Harpke at Gattersleben who did the DNA studies on the Herbarium specimen I provided from my garden .

[Janis Ruksans]

Again new crocus must be added to crocus list. It seem that soon number of species will reach 300...
This one described and published a couple of days ago by Osman Erol & al from Istanbul university. It is growing wild in area of C. isauricus sensu lato.
Pictures added here are not mine, but scans from original publication and their author is Osman Erol.
Crocus yaseminiae is published in Phytotaxa 188 (2): 103-111

[Maggi Young]

Abstract and link to that paper on Crocus yaseminiae here :

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10308.msg319078#msg319078

also a note in the updated list of Crocus papers :

The  pdf of  CROCUS PUBLICATIONS and new species  on the Crocus Pages has been updated
http://www.srgc.org.uk/genera/index.php?log=crocus

[Janis Ruksans]

Today got interestibg article from our forumist Ibrahim. It was published in Phytol. Balcan. 20(1): 123-125 by Kit Tan et al. There is described new subsp. of Crocus flavus named as subsp. atticus. Personally don't like such name as it is same as in C. atticus (or sieberi subsp. atticus). Separable by more divided stigma. Here I'm attaching scan from original picture showing stigmatic branching separating it from typical flavus.

[Maggi Young]

I agree this seems an odd choice of name - confusion will arise  from the similarity to sieberi atticus - a strange decision.

[Maggi Young]

If anyone is seeking information of the many new Crocus names that are appearing  (which you may have learned of  here or through the "CROCUS PUBLICATIONS and new species "  listing on the  Crocus Pages  and you are unable to find  individual species pages in Crocus Pages, may I suggest  you consult    İbrahim Sözen's excellent site :    http://crocusmania.blogspot.co.uk/ where you will find full photos of many species- old and new 

[Corrado & Rina]

Thanks a lot Janis and Maggi! Just got into Crocus recently, and your discussion and resources (and photographs Janis) are most useful!

Regards

Corrado