Unveiling the diversity within Salvia caespitosa sensu lato (Lamiaceae): three new “hidden” endemic species from Türkiye​

Authors

• FERHAT CELEPFollow
• MUSA DOĞANFollow
• GALİP AKAYDINFollow
• AHMET KAHRAMANFollow
• ERSİN KARABACAKFollow
• ÖMER ÇEÇENFollow
• METİN ARMAĞANFollow
• CHUN-LEI XIANGFollow
• BRYAN T. DREWFollow

Abstract

Documenting species, particularly those that are threatened or endangered, is fundamental to biodiversity conservation. However, many taxa remain scientifically unrecognized, being either undiscovered or unpublished. While some plants can be easily recognized as new species, other identifications are obscured by morphological, taxonomic, and nomenclatural complexity. Detecting cryptic or “hidden” species is therefore essential to understanding biodiversity and plant evolution. Our revisionary studies on Salvia demonstrate that the morphologically complex Salvia caespitosa is not a single species but instead comprises at least four distinct species, three with narrow distributions. This conclusion is supported by integrative evidence from extensive field studies, herbarium and nomenclatural work, laboratory analyses (e.g., morphological measurements and micromorphological studies), and molecular phylogenetic data. Our results indicate that S. caespitosa sensu stricto occurs on calcareous substrates in southern and southeastern Central Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean, particularly along the Anatolian Diagonal. The newly described species are the geographically restricted S. antalyensis on limestone cliffs near Antalya, S. sivasensis of the gypsum-rich steppe around Sivas and Malatya, and S. karaeri from chalky steppe soils of the Ermenek-Karaman region. Diagnostic traits distinguishing these species include stem length, inflorescence height relative to leaf level, basal leaf morphology, terminal leaflet shape and size, leaf indumentum, and corolla and calyx characters. Lectotypification is provided for S. caespitosa and its synonym, S. pectinifolia. In addition, critical taxonomic evaluations are given for S. pachystachya and its synonym S. sintenisii, as these species are most similar to S. caespitosa. We also provide revised descriptions, an identification key, distributional data, ecological notes, and IUCN Red List assessments for S. caespitosa and the three new species. With the addition of these three species, the Turkish flora now comprises 110 species (including three hybrids) and 118 Salvia taxa, of which 66 are endemic.​​

Author ORCID Identifier

FERHAT CELEP: 0000-0003-3280-8373

MUSA DOĞAN: 0000-0003-0340-1195

GALİP AKAYDIN: 0000-0003-3728-0176

AHMET KAHRAMAN: 0000-0002-9344-1993

ERSİN KARABACAK: 0000-0002-5784-6803

ÖMER ÇEÇEN: 0000-0002-1315-9876

METİN ARMAĞAN: 0000-0002-3913-954X

CHUN-LEI XIANG: 0000-0001-8775-6967

BRYAN DREW: 0000-0001-7248-2799

DOI

10.55730/1300-008X.2913

Keywords

Hidden species, molecular phylogeny, Salvia, Lamiaceae, taxonomy

First Page

397

Last Page

416

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

CELEP, F, DOĞAN, M, AKAYDIN, G, KAHRAMAN, A, KARABACAK, E, ÇEÇEN, Ö, ARMAĞAN, M, XIANG, C, & DREW, B. T (2026). Unveiling the diversity within Salvia caespitosa sensu lato (Lamiaceae): three new “hidden” endemic species from Türkiye​. Turkish Journal of Botany 50 (4): 397-416. https://doi.org/10.55730/1300-008X.2913