Summary
Two new Iranian alpine species of Euphorbia L. subg. Esula Pers., sect. Pithyusa (Raf.) Lázaro are described and illustrated. Euphorbia belgheisi Pahlevani is known from N Zagros Mountains at Belgheis summit and is compared with the closest species, E. sahendi Bornm. another local endemic taxon. Euphorbia mirzakhaniana Pahlevani is found from the southern part of the Talesh Mountains, the subrange of the most western part of the Alborz Mountains, and is most similar to E. gypsicola Rech.f. & Aellen, a local gypsophilous endemic species, which occurs on the gypsum hills of Semnan province. Diagnoses, descriptions, images, a distribution map, details of ecology, conservation status, seed micromorphology and pertinent notes are also included.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bachman, S., Moat, J., Hill, A. W., de la Torre, J. & Scott, B. (2011). Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCat: geospatial conservation assessment tool. Zookeys 150: 117 – 126.
Bruyns, P. V., Mapaya, R. J. & Hedderson, T. (2006). A new subgeneric classification for Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) in southern Africa based on ITS and psbA-trnH sequence data. Taxon 55: 397 – 420.
Frodin, D. G. (2004). History and concept of big plant genera. Taxon 53: 753 – 776.
Geltman, D. V. (2015). Phytogeographical analysis of Euphorbia subgenus Esula (Euphorbiaceae). Polish Bot. J. 60: 147 – 161.
Horn, J. W., Van Ee, B. W., Morawetz, J. J., Riina, R., Steinmann, V. W., Berry, P. E. & Wurdack, K. J. (2012). Phylogenetics and the evolution of major structural characters in the giant genus Euphorbia L. (Euphorbiaceae). Molec. Phylogenet. Evol. 63: 305 – 326.
IUCN (2017). IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 13, IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland & Cambridge. http://intranet.iucn.org/webfiles/doc/SSC/RedList/redlistcatsenglish.pdf.
Morton, A. (2009). DMAP for Windows. Distribution map software 7.3., Berkshire.
Pahlevani, A. H. (2007). Notes on some species of the genus Euphorbia in Iran. Rostaniha 8: 89 – 103.
Pahlevani, A. H. (2017). Four new species of Euphorbia sect. Pithyusa (subg. Esula, Euphorbiaceae) from SW Asia. Phytotaxa 312: 83 – 93.
Pahlevani, A. H. & Akhani, H. (2011). Seed morphology of Iranian annual species of Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 167: 212 – 234.
Pahlevani, A. H., Feulner, M., Weig, A. & Liede-Schumann, S. (2017). Molecular and morphological studies disentangle species complex in Euphorbia sect. Esula (Euphorbiaceae) from Iran, including two new species. Pl. Syst. Evol. 303: 139 – 164.
Pahlevani, A. H., Liede-Schumann, S. & Akhani, H. (2015). Seed and capsule morphology of the Iranian perennial species of Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) and its phylogenetic application. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 177: 335 – 377.
Riina, R., Peirson, J. A., Geltman, D. V., Molero, J., Frajman, B., Pahlevani, A. H., Barres, L., Morawetz, J. J., Salmaki, Y., Zarre, S., Kryukov, A., Bruyns, P. V. & Berry, P. E. (2013). A worldwide molecular phylogeny and classification of the leafy spurges, Euphorbia subgenus Esula (Euphorbiaceae). Taxon 62: 316 – 342.
Steinmann, V. W. & Porter, J. M. (2002). Phylogenetic relationships in Euphorbieae (Euphorbiaceae) based on ITS and ndhF sequence data. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 89: 453 – 490.
Takhtajan, A. (1986). Floristic Regions of the World, Berkeley, University of California Press, California (English translation from Russian).
Webster, G. L. (1994). Synopsis of the genera and suprageneric taxa of Euphorbiaceae. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 81: 33 – 144.
Webster, G. L (2014). Euphorbiaceae. In: K. Kubitzki (ed.), The families and genera of vascular plants, Vol. 11: 51 – 216. Springer, Heidelberg.
Zimmerman, N. F. A., Ritz, C. M. & Hellwig, F. H. (2010). Further support for the phylogenetics relationships within Euphorbia L. (Euphorbiaceae) from nrITS and trnL-trnF IGS sequence data. Pl. Syst. Evol. 286: 39 – 58.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Mr M. Mehranfard for the illustrations and Dr. M. Mahmoodi for providing the photo of Euphorbia belgheisi. Two anonymous reviewers who provided useful comments are also acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pahlevani, A.H., Rad, M.A. Two new alpine species of Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) from Iran. Kew Bull 74, 49 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-019-9830-5
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-019-9830-5