Nordic Journal of Botany 26: 35
37, 2008 doi: 10.1111/j.1756-1051.2008.00232.x, # The Authors. Journal compilation # Nordic Journal of Botany 2008 Subject Editor: Torbjörn Tyler. Accepted 2 June 2008 Campylanthus hajarensis sp. nov. and a new record of Campylanthus (Scrophulariaceae) from Oman Mats Hjertson, Jacqueline Henrot and Mats Thulin M. Hjertson (mats.hjertson@evolmuseum.uu.se), Museum of Evolution, Botany Section, Uppsala Univ., Norbyva¨gen 16, SE
752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.
J. Henrot, BSP TSG/3, Seria KB 3534, Brunei.
M. Thulin, Dept of Systematic Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala Univ., Norbyva¨gen 18D, SE
752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. Campylanthus hajarensis sp. nov. from a limestone gorge in the Hajar Mts in northern Oman, is described and illustrated. This is the first species of Campylanthus to be discovered in northern Oman. In addition, Campylanthus antonii, previously known only from Yemen, is recorded from the Dhofar Region in Oman. Fifteen species were recognized in the latest revision of Campylanthus (Hjertson 2003), but two additional species have been described in recent years, C. hubaishanii N. Kilian & P. Hein from eastern Yemen (Kilian et al. 2002) and C. reconditus Hjertson and Thulin (2006) from northeastern Somalia. The species with the northernmost distribution on the Arabian Peninsula has until now been C. sedoides A. G. Mill., which is found as far north as near Sawqirah (ca 198N) in the Dhofar Region. However, recent fieldwork in the Hajar Mts in the Adh Dhahirah Region in northern Oman by the second author revealed a new species from ca 238N, which is now the northernmost representative of the genus on the Arabian Peninsula. This new species is formally described below, thus giving a total number of 18 species in the genus. Furthermore, fieldwork by the third author in the Dhofar Region of Oman in 2006, resulted in the first record for the country of C. antonii Thulin, a species previously known only from eastern Yemen. Campylanthus hajarensis Hjertson, Henrot & Thulin sp. nov. (Fig. 1) Species nova a C. pungenti O.Schwartz et a C. ramosissimo Wight tubo corollae 10
12 mm longo prope medium geniculato et floribus in ramulis lateralibus numerosis inflorescentia9composita formantibus differt. Type: Oman, Adh Dhahira Region, above Ta’Ab village, in a gorge off the road between the coast and Salma plateau, 22853?20ƒN, 59808?54ƒE, 20 Apr 2007, Henrot 232 (ON holotype, three sheets). The holotype is mounted on three sheets with accession numbers 12637, 12638 and 12639, respectively. Cross references between the sheets are clearly indicated on each of them (cf. ICBN, art. 8.3). Densely branched shrub, to 50 cm high; young branches glabrous, greyish green; older stems greyish, becoming9 spinescent. Leaves few and scattered, linear to narrowly elliptic, fleshy, 3
7 0.8
1.3 mm, acute at the apex, glabrous. Flowers up to 5, scattered along short spreading lateral branches borne at intervals of 5
10 mm from the main stems, forming seemingly compound inflorescences 2
12 cm long; bracts and bracteoles linear, 0.5
1.0 mm long, glabrous or sparsely ciliate; pedicels 1.5
3.5 mm long, glabrous. Calyx-lobes lanceolate to narrowly triangular, 3
4 1.0
1.5 mm, acute, glabrous except for ciliate margin. Corolla hypocrateriform, white with yellow throat and yellowish-brown on outside of tube, 12
15 mm long, glabrous outside; tube 10
121 mm, distinctly geniculate near the middle, slightly widened towards the throat, with9retrorsely appressed hairs below and above the insertion of the stamens inside; lobes9narrowly ovate, 2.5
3.5 1.2
1.8 mm. Stamens 2, inserted ca 4 mm down the throat of the corolla; anthers ca 1.5 0.5 mm; filaments ca 0.5 mm long. Ovary 2-locular, surrounded by a ringshaped disk, abruptly tapering above into the style; style 2
3 mm long, stigma oblique, slightly 2-lobed. Capsule 3.0
4.5 3
4 mm, almost circular in outline, laterally compressed, 9dark brown. Seeds ca 1.5 mm in diameter, rounded, flat, narrowly winged around the entire margin. Distribution and habitat Campylanthus hajarensis is known only from the type locality in the Hajar Mts in northern Oman, where it is 35 Figure 1. Campylanthus hajarensis sp. nov. (A) portion of plant showing flowering lateral branches, (B) flower, (C) calyx lobe, (D) upper part of corolla opened up, (E) stamen, (F) pistil, (G) capsule, (H) seed. Scale bars: (A) 5 mm, (B)
(H) 1 mm. All from Henrot 232. Drawn by Margaret Tebbs. locally common on slopes of a limestone gorge at an altitude of about 410 m a.s.l. The vegetation in the surroundings is sparse and includes, e.g. Acacia tortilis and Euphobia larica. 36 Taxonomic remarks Campylanthus hajarensis is apparently nearest related to C. pungens O. Schwartz and C. ramossisimus Wight, two other species in which the stems are glabrous or almost so and tend to become more or less spinescent. C. pungens is restricted to the Arabian Peninsula, where it is relatively widespread and known from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman (Hjertson 2003). In Oman it is confined to the Dhofar Region, as are all other species of Campylanthus so far known from Oman (C. chascaniflorus A. G. Mill., C. mirandae A. G. Mill. and C. sedoides A. G. Mill.). Campylanthus ramosissimus is known only from the Sindh region in Pakistan (Hjertson 2003), and a recent record of C. pungens from Sindh (Enright et al. 2005) most probably refers to C. ramosissimus. Campylanthus hajarensis differs from both C. pungens and C. ramosissimus by its longer corolla tube (10
12 mm versus respectively 8
10 and 6
7 mm), which is geniculate near the middle (not in the lower third), and by having stomata on the stems that are not sunken (in C. pungens and C. ramosissimus the stomata of the stems are sunken into distinct depressions, Hjertson 2003). In addition, the arrangement of the flowers along the short lateral branches, forming a seemingly compound much-branched inflorescence in C. hajarensis, is characteristic. In C. pungens and C. ramosissimus the branches are much fewer in the inflorescence region. C. hajarensis also differs from C. pungens in the longer pedicels (1.5
3.5 mm versus 0.8
1.5 mm) and from C. ramosissimus in the entirely glabrous (not papillose) stems and leaves and in the acute (not obtuse) leaf tips. The colour of the corolla in C. hajarensis, white with yellow throat, is perhaps matched in a few populations of C. pungens, although normally in this species the flowers are purple to pink. The flower colour in C. ramosissimus is unknown. This is the first record of C. antonii from Oman, where it was found in a couple of places in the rocky gully of Wadi Aful at 60
100 m a.s.l. The vegetation in the area is sparse, the most notable tree being Boswellia sacra. Campylanthus antonii is previously known from the Mahrah and Hadramaut regions in Yemen (Kilian et al. 2002, Hjertson 2003), and the known locality nearest to Oman is between Al Ghaydah and Al Fatk at 16830?N, 52840?E (Thulin, Beier and Mohammed Hussein 9679). Acknowledgements
We are indebted to the Directorate General of Plant Conservation in Oman for collecting permits, to the Director of the National Herbarium of Oman (ON) for the loan of material, to the Swedish Research Council for financial support to MT, and to Margaret Tebbs for the illustration. References Enright, N. J. et al. 2005. Desert vegetation and vegetation
environment relationships in Kirthar National Park, Sindh, Pakistan.
J. Arid Environ. 61: 397
418. Hjertson, M. 2003. Revision of the disjunct genus Campylanthus (Scrophulariaceae).
Edinburgh J. Bot. 60: 131
174. Hjertson, M. and Thulin, M. 2006. A new species of Campylanthus (Scrophulariaceae) from Somalia.
Nord. J. Bot. 23: 707
709. Kilian, N. et al. 2002. A new species of Campylanthus (Scrophulariaceae) from Ras Fartak, Al-Mahra, and notes on other species of the genus in Yemen.
Willdenowia 32: 271
279. Campylanthus antonii Thulin Oman, Dhofar Region, Wadi Aful W of Mughsayl, 16852?N, 53843?E, 5 Nov 2006, Thulin 11495 (ON, UPS). 37