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| Solenopsis gutermannii Brullo, Cambria, Costanzo& Giusso, in Brullo, Gilli, Berger, Cambria, Costanzo, Siracusa et Galdo. 2025. |
Abstract
A new species of Solenopsis (Campanulaceae), S. gutermannii is described and illustrated. It is endemic to Kefalonia island, Greece, where it is very rare and localized in flat clay surfaces that are periodically submerged. This species is a very small annual hygrophyte, characterized by rosulate leaves or with slightly caulescent stems, long-pedunculated flowers, bilabiate corolla, and papillate near the throat. It exhibits close affinities primarily with S. minuta, with which it was previously identified, and additionally with S. antiphonitis, due to similarities in habit and certain flower traits. Nevertheless, several relevant morphological features serve to distinguish it from these species. Its morphology, seed coat and pollen SEM micro-sculpturing, ecology, phenology, distribution, conservation status, and taxonomic relationships are also examined.
Keywords: Lobelioideae; Mediterranean region; morphology; pollen; seed testa; Solenopsis; taxonomy
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| Solenopsis gutermannii from type locality. (A) Habit; (B) Habit magnification (×2); (C) Leaves; (D) Bracteoles; (E) Flower (frontal view); (F) Flower (lateral view); (G) Open corolla; (H) Open calyx; (I) Calyx with capsule; (J) Anthers (frontal view); (K) Anthers (lateral view); (L) Style and stigma; (M) Corolla papillae; (N) Seeds. Drawing: S. Brullo. |
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| Habit of living plants of Solenopsis gutermannii from Kefalonia. (A) Stemless individual. (B) Caulescent individual. |
Solenopsis gutermannii Brullo, Cambria, Costanzo& Giusso, sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Solenopsis gutermannii is similar to S. minuta in having usually rosulate leaves, bracteole indumentum, and corolla colour, but it differs in having a permanent annual habit, being acaulescent or briefly scapose, having a leaf rosette 1.2–2 cm in diameter, leaves no more than 12 mm long, with blade entire or weakly crenate without glands at the margin, usually smaller, with a smaller bracteole, smaller calyx (2.5–3.3 mm long), shorter calyx lobes, shorter corolla (6–7 mm long), smaller upper lips of the corolla (2.5–2.7 × 1.8–2.2 mm), not papillate, shorter lower lip of the corolla (3.7–4.2 mm long), papillate at the base, with papillae usually being shorter (0.02–0.2 mm), the staminal filaments and anther tube usually being shorter, the capsule being smaller and papillose, and the seeds smaller.
Etymology: The species is dedicated to the late Walter Gutermann, Austrian botanist from Vienna (1935–2023), and expert on the flora of Austria and the Ionian Islands (Greece), who was the first to discover this species in Kefalonia.
Salvatore Brullo, Christian Gilli, Andreas Berger, Salvatore Cambria, Emanuele Costanzo,Giuseppe Siracusa and Gianpietro Giusso del Galdo. 2025. Solenopsis gutermannii (Campanulaceae), a New Species from Kefalonia (Ionian Islands, Greece). Taxonomy. 5(1); 13; DOI: doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy5010013 [7 March 2025]
