Äîêëàäè íà Áúëãàðñêàòà àêàäåìèÿ íà íàóêèòå Comptes rendus de l’Académie bulgare des Sciences Tome 65, No 2, 2012 BIOLOGIE Botanique SESLERIA RHODOPAEA TASHEV & DIMITROV (POACEAE) SP. NOVA – A NEW GRAMINEAN FROM BULGARIA Alexander Tashev, Dimitar Dimitrov∗ (Submitted by Academician V. Golemansky on September 17, 2011) Abstract During the floristic studies in the Red Wall Biosphere Reserve in August 2007, we collected herbaria of a representative of the Sesleria genus. It differs significantly from the already known members of this genus in Bulgaria. Key words: Sesleria rhodopaea Tashev & Dimitrov, sp. nova, Bulgaria Introduction. In Europe, 20 species from the Sesleria Scop. genus were identified [1 ]. According to the Flora of the Republic of Bulgaria [2 ], Sesleria Scop. genus has 5 species in Bulgaria, and according to [3 ], it has 7 species and 9 subspecies. In [4 ], it has 9 species. Nineteen years later, 4 more species were found in the country: Sesleria tenuifolia Schrader [5 ], Sesleria filifolia Hoppe, S. autumnalis (Scop.) F. W. Schultz, and S. argentea (Savi) Savi [6 ]. 169 According to [7 ], 4 species were reported in the USSR, and [8 ] reported 7 species. [9 ] reported a total of 7 species for Greece, 3 of which are endemic to the country: Sesleria tenerrima (Fritsch) Hayek in Kaiserl., S. taygetea Hayek in Kaiserl., and S. vaginalis Boiss. & Orph. in Boiss. [10 ] reported 14 species for the flora of Italy, and [11 ] reported only 3 species for the flora of Turkey, one of which is endemic: Sesleria araratica Kit Tan. A total of 5 species from this genus were found in Romania [12 ], and 7 in Serbia [13 ]. Materials and methods. For our work on the herbaria at the Herbariums of IBER (SOM) and St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University we used the morphology-anatomical method. Results and discussion. Poaceae Sesleria rhodopaea Tashev&Dimitrov, sp. nova Holotypus. Bulgaria, Central Rhodopes: In the northern part of Dobrostan plateau, a locality called Anarska shirina, in the area of Dobrostan village, near the road from “Martsiganitsa” chalet to “Chervenata stena” peak. The locality is situated on the upper part of a 15◦ slope, S-SW exposition and in a limestone rocky place. The plants were collected with fruit. 1440 m a.s.l.; N: 41◦ 54′ 57.0′′ ; E: 24◦ 53′ 03.5′′ . LG-24, 17.08.2007, coll. Al. Tashev (SOM 167294) (Fig. 1). The locality of Sesleria rhodopaea is situated under the canopy of an oldgrowth forest of Pinus nigra Arnold (Fig. 5). The herbaceous layer is dominated by Dactylis glomerata L. and Thalictrum minus L. subsp. minus. The individuals of Sesleria rhodopaea were situated between the spots of the dominant species. The population is of mosaic character and is located in an area larger than a hectare. The leaves are similar to the Balkan endemic Sesleria latifolia (Adamovič) Degen, and the construction of its spiculae resembles that of the Appennino– Balkan–Anatolian species Sesleria autumnalis (Scop.) F. W. Schultz. The main difference is in the construction of the inflorescence, which is highly branched in the open form and has complex spiculiform individual clusters, which are 4 in total, the lower one has a 14.5 cm long peduncle and the upper 3 ones are almost sessile, being located 3 cm from each other. Those features significantly distinguish it from the other known species of the genus. Diagnosis. Planta perennis. Rhizoma robusta, fere sub verticale, levis vagina folii circumvolutus. Caulis ad 43 cm altus, rotundus 1.5 mm in diametro. Foliae ad 19 cm longi, ad 4 mm lati, cum 18 nervosa et cum hyalinum cicatrix. Spiculae ab 1.0 ad 2.5 cm longi et 4 mm lati. Spicula biflora. Gluma inferior 9 mm longa, 2 mm lata, cum apex longer acutata cum unis centralis nervus albiflora. Gluma superior fere aequalis in gluma inferior. Palea exterior 5 mm longa, 2.1 mm lata, cum una central arista, 1 mm longa et 4 breviores aristulae. Palea inferior 6 mm longa et 2 mm lata. Duae paleae 170 A. Tashev, D. Dimitrov Fig. 1. General view of Sesleria rhodopaea Fig. 2. S. rhodopaea inflorescence Fig. 3. S. rhodopaea lower spicula Fig. 4. S. rhodopaea upper spicula with blossom and fruit Fig. 5. General view of the habitat glabri et membranacei. Spicula inferior cum pedicula 14.5 cm longa. Spiculae superiors fere sessilae, distans 3 cm inter spiculae (Figs 2, 3). Caryopsis 3 mm longa et 1.1 mm lata, oviformis (Fig. 4). Floret ad finem Junii–Julii, fructus Augusto. Conclusions. A local endemic species of the Sesleria genus was found in the Central Rhodopes, and it is the 14th one in the flora of Bulgaria. Of the other 13 species, 4 are Carpathian–Balkan, 4 are Balkan endemics, 2 species are of the European range, 2 are Mediterranean–Macedonian–Thracian–Caucasus and one is Apennines–Balkan. This confirms the great diversity of the genus in this part of Europe and probably the Balkan Peninsula and Apennine Peninsula are speciation areas of the Sesleria Scop genus. REFERENCES [1 ] Dayle M. In: Flora Europaea (ed. T. G. Tutin), 5, Cambridge University Press, 1978, 173–177. [2 ] Hinkova C. In: Flora Republicae Popularis Bulgaricae (ed. D. Jordanov), 1, BAS, Sofia, 1963, 338–343 (in Bulgarian). [3 ] Kozhuharov S. Familia Poaceae (R. Br.) Barnh. – Systematics, distribution, use and conservation of the Bulgarian representatives. DSc. Thesis, 1985, 212–217 (in Bulgarian). 4 [ ] Kozhuharov S. (ed.) Key of vascular plants in Bulgaria. Sofia, Nauka i izkustvo, 1992, 621–622 (in Bulgarian). [5 ] Assenov A. In: New chorogical data for the Balkans (eds V. Vladimirov, F.Dane, V. Stevanović, K. 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Savulescu), Vol. XII, 1972, 215–225 (in Romanian). 13 [ ] Tatič B. In: Flora de la Republique Socialiste de Serbie (ed. M. Josifovic), 8, 1976, 325–330 (in Serbian). Department of Dendrology Faculty of Forestry University of Forestry 10, Kl. Ohridski Blvd 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria e-mail: atashev@mail.bg 172 National Natural History Museum Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 1, Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria e-mail: Dimitrov.npm@gmail.com ∗ A. Tashev, D. Dimitrov