AUTHOR=Khan Nazar , Friesen Nikolai , Sultan Amir , Fritsch Reinhard M. , Khan Tahir , Ishaq Kamran 

TITLE=Allium sulaimanicum: A new Allium species and section from Pakistan

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.1020440

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.1020440

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>A new species, <italic>Allium sulaimanicum</italic>, is described from northern Balochistan and southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan based on morphological, molecular, and cytological studies. The new species is characterised by long runner-like cylindrical rhizomes of adult plants, cylindrical bulbs, linear leaves with minute soft hairs along veins, campanulate perigonium, and white to creamy white, ovate to elliptical, 4.5–5-mm-long acute tepals, with brownish to purplish nerves, stamens as long as to slightly longer than tepals, yellow to brick red anthers, hexagonal ovary, and white and papillate/warty along angles. The presence of long herbaceous rhizomes indicated serious isolation of the new species; hence, a new section <italic>Sulaimanicum</italic> is proposed to accommodate the new species. The new species is diploid with a chromosome number of 2n = 16. Detailed morphological description, illustrations, phylogenetic analyses based on sequences of plastid spacers (<italic>rpl</italic>32-<italic>trn</italic>L (UAG) and <italic>trn</italic>Q-<italic>rps</italic>16) and nuclear ITS, karyotype features, and a distribution map of the new species are provided.</p>