The Mediterranean region is a center of species and genetic diversity of many plant groups, which served as a source of recolonization of temperate regions of Eurasia in Holocene. We investigate the evolutionary history of species currently classified in Lotus sect. Bonjeanea in the context of the evolution of the genus Lotus as a whole, using phylogenetic, phylogeographic and dating analyses. Of three species of the section, L. rectus and L. hirsutus have wide Mediterranean distribution while L. strictus has a disjunctive range in Bulgaria, Turkey, Armenia, Eastern Kazakhstan, and adjacent parts of Russia and China. We used entire nuclear ribosomal ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region (nrITS) and a plastid dataset (rps16 and trnL-F) to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within Lotus with an extended representation of Bonjeanea group. We analyzed the phylogeographic patterns within each species based on the plastid dataset. For divergence time estimation, the nrITS dataset was analyzed. Our results confirmed the non-monophyletic nature of the section Bonjeanea. They indicate that Lotus is likely to have diverged about 15.87 (9.99–19.81) million years ago (Ma), which is much older than an earlier estimate of ca. 5.54 Ma. Estimated divergence ages within L. strictus, L. rectus, and L. hisrutus (6.1, 4.94, and 4.16 Ma, respectively) well predate the onset of the current type of Mediterranean climate. Our data suggest that relatively ancient geological events and/or climatic changes apparently played roles in early diversification of Lotus and its major clades, as well as in formation of phylogeographic patterns, in at least some species.

The genus Cota J.Gay (Asteraceae, Anthemideae) consists of 49 species (including 63 taxa) worldwide. Cota species are mainly distributed in Europe (except north of Europe), North Africa, Caucasia, and Central Asia (Davis and Hedge, 1975; Oberprieler et al., 2007). In Turkey it is represented by 15 species and 22 taxa, of which 9 are endemic. The members of Cota are especially widespread in the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian phytogeographic regions of Turkey (Özbek et al., 2011; Özbek, 2012). Cota was earlier classified as a section in the genus Anthemis L. in the Flora of Turkey (Grierson and Yavin, 1975). In this account, Anthemis s.l. was divided into three sections, namely sect. Anthemis (29 species), sect. Maruta (Cass.) Griseb. (6 species), and sect. Cota (J.Gay) Rupr. (15 species). After the generic and infrageneric concepts of Anthemis were changed, Anthemis sect. Cota was accepted as a genus,

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A new species, Centaurea kirikkalensis from the Kırıkkale Province of Turkey is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to C. nallihanensis and C. drabifolia subsp. floccosa from which it differs mainly in the indumentum of stem and leaves, shape of involucre and appendages and pappus features. Detailed diagnostic characters, descriptions, taxonomic comments, ecology, IUCN conservation status, pollen and achene morphologies are given and the geographical distribution of the new species and its allied taxa is mapped.

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