Alcea acaulis and A. fasciculiflora, two new records for the flora of Iran

Abstract

During several field trips to the western parts of Iran and after comparing the collected plants with other species of <em>Alcea</em>, we came across to following two specimens belonging to <em>Malvaceae</em> family which were found new to the flora of Iran from Ilam province. <em>Alcea acaulis</em> is distinguished from the other species in the genus by its very short stem. The second species, <em>A. fasciculiflora</em>, is morphologically similar to <em>A. iranshahrii</em> and <em>A. ghahremanii</em> which is distinguished by its leaf shape, flower color and indumentum features.Both<em>Alcea acaulis</em> and <em>A. fasciculiflora</em> are sparsely to densely covered by two types of glandular and non-glandular trichomes. The glandular trichomes are of clavate type and the non-glandular trichomes are divided into three types: simple, stellate and fascicled. The present paper, therefore, deals with taxonomic descriptions and relationships of the species, important diagnostic traits, micromorphological features of the trichomes, illustrations and the distribution maps of the species in Iran.<br /> <strong> </strong><br /> <strong> </strong>