Astragalus yukselii Karaman & Aytaç (Leguminosae) is described as a new species and illustrated. The species is distributed near the town of Hadim in Konya Province (South Anatolia). Diagnostic morphological characters useful in discriminating the new species from its close relatives, A. isauricus . & and A. karjaginii (Boriss.) Boriss., are explained. Both species clearly belong to Astragalus L. sect. Macrophyllium Boiss. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2013) 37: 836-840 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Astragalus yukselii (Leguminosae), a new species from Turkey 1, 2 Seher KARAMAN ERKUL *, Zeki AYTAÇ Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey 1 Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: Astragalus yukselii Karaman & Aytaç (Leguminosae) is described as a new species and illustrated. The species is distributed near the town of Hadim in Konya Province (South Anatolia). Diagnostic morphological characters useful in discriminating the new species from its close relatives, A. isauricus . & and A. karjaginii (Boriss.) Boriss., are explained. Both species clearly belong to Astragalus L. sect. Macrophyllium Boiss., which is characterised by large leaves and flowers. We also present some notes on the ecology, biogeography, and conservation status of the new species. Key words: Astragalus, new species, Macrophyllium, Leguminosae, Turkey 1. Introduction The genus Astragalus L. is represented by approximately 3000 species worldwide. In Turkey, this genus comprises about 425 taxa including 218 endemic species classified in 63 sections (Chamberlain & Matthews, 1970; Davis et al., 1988; Maassoumi, 1998; Aytaç, 2000). The hair characters are very important for distinguishing Astragalus species (Mehr et al., 2012). Astragalus sect. Macrophyllium Boiss. was validly published by Boissier (1872). Tragacanthic Astragalus in the Flora of Turkey was accounted for by Chamberlain and Matthews (1970). Astragalus sect. Macrophyllium and many other groups of thorny species have been revised in recent decades (Tietz, 1988; Tietz & Zarre, 1994; Zarre & Podlech, 1996; Maassoumi, 1998; Zarre, 2000). Sect. Macrophyllium is represented by 8 .
