Marrubium sivasense Aytaç, Akgül & Ekici sp. nova (Lamiaceae) is described and illustrated from Central Anatolia, Turkey. The new species most resembles Marrubium depauperatum, but it differs by 3-10 flowered verticillasters, crenate to crenulated leaf margins, and unequal calyx teeth. | Z. AYTAÇ, G. AKGÜL, M. EKİCİ Research Article Turk J Bot 36 (2012) 443-449 © TÜBİTAK doi: A new species of Marrubium (Lamiaceae) from Central Anatolia, Turkey Zeki AYTAÇ1,*, Gencay AKGÜL2, Murat EKİCİ1 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Gazi University, Ankara - TURKEY 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Nevşehir University, Nevşehir - TURKEY Received: ● Accepted: Abstract: Marrubium sivasense Aytaç, Akgül & Ekici sp. nova (Lamiaceae) is described and illustrated from Central Anatolia, Turkey. The new species most resembles Marrubium depauperatum, but it differs by 3-10 flowered verticillasters, crenate to crenulated leaf margins, and unequal calyx teeth. The ecology and phenology of the new species as well as its etymology, conservation status, and diagnostic features are discussed. Key words: New species, endemic, Marrubium, Labiatae, Turkey Introduction The members of the genus Marrubium L. show a herbaceous habit. They are distributed in IranoTuranian and the Mediterranean phytogeographic regions and rarely in America and Australia. The total number of taxa is about 40 all over the world (Akgül et al., 2008). It is represented by 20 species and 11 of them are endemic in Turkey (Cullen, 1982; Davis et al., 1988; Ekim et al., 2000). The specimens of the new species were collected from Kangal (Sivas, Central Anatolia) district. It is very similar to M. depauperatum Boiss., but differs from it in several characters such as 3-10 flowered and lax verticillasters, crenate to crenulate leaf margins, and unequal calyx teeth. The locality of new species is close to the type locality of M. depauperatum known from 2 collections around the Kayseri region, where it has been recollected since 1855. Only M. depauperatum is 1-flowered in its verticillasters in the genus and therefore this is the most important unique character. It was collected again by the second author from the type locality during the .
