Sideritis elica, a New Species of Lamiaceae from Bulgaria, Revealed by Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny

Abstract

Sideritis elica, from the Rhodope Mountains, is described as a species new to science. Results of a detailed morphological analysis were combined with the data of molecular analyses using DNA barcoding as an efficient tool for the genetic, taxonomic identification of plants. The combination of morphological features distinguishes the new species well: Its first three uppermost leaf pairs are significantly shorter and wider, the branchiness of the stems is much more frequent, the whole plant is much more lanate, and it looks almost white, as opposed to the other closed species of section Empedoclia, which look grayish green. The molecular analysis, based on the rbcL and trnH-psbA regions, supports the morphological data about the divergence of Sideritis scardica and Sideritis elica. The studied populations of the two taxa were found to be genetically distant (up to 6.8% polymorphism for trnH-psbA) with distinct population-specific nucleotide patterns, while no polymorphism in the DNA barcodes was detected within the Sideritis elica population. The results confirm the existence of a new species called Sideritis elica, which occurs in the nature reserve Chervenata Stena, located in the northern part of the Central Rhodope Mountains. There were only 12 individuals found in the locality, which underlines the necessity of conservation measures.

Screening of Volatile Compounds, Traditional and Modern Phytotherapy Approaches of Selected Non-Aromatic Medicinal Plants (Lamiaceae, Lamioideae) from Rtanj Mountain, Eastern Serbia

“…Nowadays, it can be found in wide regions such as in the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, where it was introduced from Southern Europe [ 13 ]. However, S. montana is considered a rare and endangered species in Bulgaria, in need of measures for conservation [ 14 ]. This species grows in dry and poor meadows, pastures, and rocky and sandy areas [ 12 ].…”

DNA Barcoding and Fertilization Strategies in Sideritis syriaca subsp. syriaca, a Local Endemic Plant of Crete with High Medicinal Value

“…Syriaca; however, the rest of these specimens presented controversial matching and nucleotide differences to the assigned Sideritis species and subspecies (Supplementary material Table S3). Recently, a new Sideritis species has been described from Bulgaria, namely, S. elica Aneva, Zhelev and Bonchev, which was clearly distinct from S. scardica based on morphological and molecular data [16]; in that case, the trnH-psbA molecular marker showed a 6.8% polymorphism [16]. Previous studies have also investigated the phylogeny of selected Sideritis taxa using only one nuclear molecular marker [14,17,55], thus compromising the genetic information for comparison with the current investigation.…”

“…In various terrestrial medicinal-aromatic plants (MAPs), molecular barcoding has been widely applied, using short regions of nuclear or chloroplast 2 of 24 DNA to genetically characterize and identify taxa at the species or even at the subspecies level [4], including, among others, the trnL, trnT-trnL, psbA-trnH, and ITS molecular markers. Previous studies on members of Lamiaceae (a major family of MAPs worldwide) have used various molecular markers and DNA tools for the successful identification of many members belonging to different genera of Lamiaceae, with some genera receiving more attention than others due to complex taxonomical issues, such as members of the genus Sideritis [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Specimens of Sideritis spp.…”

“…More recently, another 93 specimens of the Greek Sideritis taxa have been deposited for the ITS, psbA-trnH (PopSet: 972386283), rbcL (PopSet: 972385939), and matK (PopSet: 972386103) molecular markers [18]; however, there is no relevant study published to date. The nuclear molecular marker ITS has been broadly used in such studies [6,14,15,17]; whereas, multiple regions from the cpDNA have also been used for species identification [6,[10][11][12][13]16]. Many fingerprinting studies to date have employed genetic analyses using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs) for several subpopulations of the local Greek endemic S. euboea Heldr.…”

The effect of Sideritis species on Alzheimer’s disease: In vitro evaluation

“…It is subdivided into two subgenera: Sideritis and Marrubiastrum. The southeastern part of Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean region are centers of diversity for Sideritis, particularly in the section Empedoclia, with around 50 species [8,10]. Sideritis species have a long history of traditional use as teas, sweeteners, and for therapeutic purposes.…”