Astragalus unalii Çeçen, Aytaç and Mısırdalı, sp. nov. (Fabaceae, sect. Malacothrix Bunge) is described as a new species from Karadağ (Karaman Province) in southern Anatolia and compared with its relatives growing in steppe vegetation. The new species is close to A. tauricola Boiss. and A. adiyamanensis Podlech & , endemic and growing in central and southern parts of Anatolia, Turkey. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2016) 40: 81-86 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Astragalus unalii (Fabaceae), a new species from Turkey 1 2, 3 Ömer ÇEÇEN , Zeki AYTAÇ *, Hüseyin MISIRDALI 1 Nakipoğlu Primary School, Karatay, Konya, Turkey 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey 3 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Şırnak University, Şırnak, Turkey Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Astragalus unalii Çeçen, Aytaç and Mısırdalı, sp. nov. (Fabaceae, sect. Malacothrix Bunge) is described as a new species from Karadağ (Karaman Province) in southern Anatolia and compared with its relatives growing in steppe vegetation. The new species is close to A. tauricola Boiss. and A. adiyamanensis Podlech & , endemic and growing in central and southern parts of Anatolia, Turkey. Taxonomic descriptions, pollen and seed characters, and geographical distribution of the new species are presented. Key words: Leguminosae, Malacothrix, systematics 1. Introduction The genus Astragalus L. (Fabaceae) has two phylogenetic branches; one of them is Old World (Asia, Europe, and Africa) and the other one is New World (America). It has about 2000 taxa with 136 sections in the Old World (Podlech and Zarre, 2013). It is represented by 478 taxa in 63 sections and 202 (42%) taxa endemic to Turkey (Aytaç et al., 2012). Three new endemic taxa were added to the Turkish flora in 2012 and 2013 (Taeb and Uzunhisarcıklı, 2012; Dinç et al., 2013; Karaman and Aytaç, 2013) and the number reached 486. The sect. Malacothrix Bunge is represented by 119 taxa in the Old World and 25 in Turkey, of which 12 are endemic (Podlech and Zarre, 2013). According to Taeb and Uzunhisarcıklı (2012), the sect. Malacothrix is represented by 17 taxa and 10 of them are endemic to Turkey. The sect. Malacothrix is common in the .
