| Fabaceae |
|---|
Lathyrus cicera L. |
Lathyrus L. |
| L. pseudo-cicera Pamp. in Nuovo Gior. Bot. Ital. n.s. 31:213 (1924). Syn: L. cicera L. var. lineatus Post, Fl. Syria 292 (1896)! Figure 3, p. 323. Map 79, p. 363. Distinguished from L. cicera (which it resembles in facies and the shape of its calyx and fruit) by its gingery-orange flowers, corolla wings narrowly obovate-oblong, prominent straight longitudinal nerve running down the centre of each valve, and longer style (5-7 mm). Differing from L. gorgoni (which it resembles in flower colour and shape of its corolla wings) in having usually narrower leaflets, less attenuate sepals not reflexed in fruit, and straight, always strongly lineate legumes with a somewhat shorter style. Fl. 4-5. Fallow fields, 150-750 m. Syntypes: [Cyrenaica] B.: Selmani e Lete; Rahba; Karmu;- fra Selmani e Hauari Osman; Hauari; [Pampanini] (Fl). E. Anatolia (Mesopotamia) and adjacent Hatay. B7 Diyarbakır: Elaziğ to Diyarbakir, c. 20 km S E of Ergani, It. Ley d. 1957:1502! C6 Hatay: Amuk plain, Haradj. 908 (as L. gorgoni)! Gaziantep: Kizilhisar, 25- km from Gaziantep to Kilis, 750 m, D. 28035! Aintab (Gaziantep), Post Hb. (BM! syntype of i. cicera var. lineatus Post)! C7 Urfa: 16 km from Urfa to Akçakale, 500 m, D. 28086! C8 Mardin: Mardin to Nusaybin, 650 m, D. 28463! Cyrenaica, N. Egypt, Palestine, Syrian Desert, N. Iraq, W. Iran. Ir.-Tur. element. The Turkish material fits the type description well, except that the style is somewhat shorter (5-7 instead of 9 mm). Some confusion has occurred between this taxon and forms of L. cicera with more obscurely and irregularly lineate legumes. A strongly lineate form of L. gorgoni has been seen from Palestine (Jordan: Gamala, Meyers & Dinsmore 934b!). Whether such 'intermediates' are the result of homologous variation or hybridisation certainly cannot be decided in the herbarium. In the absence of field studies. L. pseudo-cicera is accepted as a species that seems better delimited from L. gorgoni in Turkey than it is in Palestine and Iraq. |