Scilla mesopotamica
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Scilla mesopotamica is a species of squill ( Scilla ) in the asparagus family (Asparagaceae).
description
The onion is egg-shaped and 1 to 3 × 0.8 to 2.5 centimeters in size. The outer onion skins are brown to blackish brown, the inner reddish pink. There are 2 to 5 leaves . These are hairless and white-skinned at the edges and smooth to slightly wavy. The end of the leaf is blunt or pointed. The leaf blade is highlighted parallel veined, 8 to 40 × 0.3 to 1.8 centimeters in size, broad, linear to narrowly lanceolate and widens over time. The shaft is 7 to 45 × 0.1 to 0.2 centimeters in size, bald and strongly built. The inflorescence is a loose, one to six-flowered raceme . The stems of the flowers are almost erect, glabrous and 5 to 15 millimeters long. They are shorter than the bracts during flowering. The bracts are 2 to 3 millimeters long, glabrous, whitish blue and two columns. The bracts are light blue with darker central ribs, 10 to 15 × 2 to 6 millimeters in size and glabrous. The stamens are thread-like, 7 to 9 millimeters long, whitish and glabrous. The anthers are fixed dorsally, bluish and 3 to 4 × 1 to 1.2 millimeters in size. The pollen is greenish-blue. The ovary is spherical and glabrous. The stylus are 7 to 10 millimeters long and bare. The scar is punctured. The capsules are spherical to almost spherical, 8 to 15 × 8 to 12 millimeters in size and bare. The numerous seeds are almost spherical, 2 to 3 × 1 to 2 millimeters in size.
The species blooms and produces fruit from March to April.
Occurrence
Scilla mesopotamica is only known from a small area in Turkey, Şanlıurfa Province , Halfeti County . The species is an Iran-Turanian floral element. It grows in steppe on deep Ultisol , which has evolved from limestone, especially in stony and dry locations. The following species were associated with it at the place where the holotype was found : Ceterach officinarum , Minuartia tchihatchewii , Clypeola aspera , Geranium dissectum , Geranium rotundifolium , Geranium tuberosum subsp. tuberosum , Vicia palaestina , Amygdalus trichoamygdalus var. trichoamygdalus , Umbilicus horizontalis var. intermedius , Valeriana dioscoridis , Lamium amplexicaule , Salvia multicaulis and Asperula orientalis .
Systematics and botanical history
The species was collected for the first time in 1888 by Sintensis near Rum Kalesi about 5 km north of Halfeti and was then designated as Scilla cernua . In 1976 Franz Speta described the plants collected at that time as a separate species Scilla mesopotamica . Numerous attempts to find Scilla mesopotamica in the area where it was found at that time all failed. Today, large areas of the area are flooded by the Birecik barrage on the Euphrates , including the Terra typica . In 2004 a small population of grape hyacinths was discovered outside the flooded area, which was later identified as belonging to Scilla mesopotamica . This was the first such find in 116 years.
Danger
The known population of Scilla mesopotamica is less than 200 specimens in an area of less than 50 m². The species is currently not on the IUCN Red List, but meets the criteria for classification as critically endangered.
supporting documents
- Ismail Eker , Hasan Akan : Last two hundred individuals: Rediscovery of Scilla mesopotamica Speta (Hyacinthaceae), a threatened endemic species in Turkey . Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae Vol. 79, no. 1: 31-36, 2012