Taxonomic Study of Linaria depauperata and L. supina Complexes in Eastern Spain

Morphological characteristics were studied in two groups ofclosely related taxa of sectionSupinae , Linaria depauperataand L. supina, from eastern Spain. Vegetative, floral and seedcharacteristics were of little use in distinguishing betweenthese taxa as the ranges for all the taxa studied overlapped.Flower colour could be used as a diagnostic character for somebut not all of these taxa. Seed coat characters were of hightaxonomic value, both when trying to distinguish among thesetwo groups, and the taxa included within them, and also whenestablishing relationships among the taxa studied. Some differenceswere found in the indumentum distribution and density. Threetypes of trichomes were identified, two of them eglandular andcommon to all taxa. The third type of trichome was a simplegland, that varied in the number of cells in the stalk and gland.Trichome length and wall width of stalk cells allowed severalgroups of taxa to be distinguished. Similarity relationshipsamong the samples studied are shown in a UPGMA phenogram. Accordingto these results, two new species, L. cardonica and L. sulphurea,are described. L. arabiniana is conspecific with L. depauperatasubsp. hegelmaieri. A key to identify the different taxa isprovided. Copyright 2001 Annals of Botany Company Scropulariaceae, Antirrhineae, taxonomy, morphological characters, seed-coat, trichomes, Linaria depauperata,Linaria supina