A New Crocus L. Species from Southwestern Türkiye. mathewii

It is easy to neglect most other characteristics of a species when the said species has a unique characteristic among its close relatives. The throat color in Crocus L. is rightfully considered as systematically important, albeit a new species from southwestern Türkiye indicates otherwise. Having so far unique coloration of C. mathewii Kernd. & Pasche, the new species looks similar to its close relative at first glance because of the flower color pattern. Although the habitat of the new species is easy to reach, it has been overlooked due to this character whereas it is distinct in slenderer habit due to its narrower tepals and lower width to length ratio, shorter corm tunic neck, and longer style branches. Two populations have been discovered for the new species which are geographically distinct, which indicates a possibility for more populations in between. This work describes a new species from southwestern Türkiye and shows that a once unique character may be more frequent. Therefore, caution should be taken when describing new species and usage of more characters as well as including several different individuals when characterizing a new species are important. Detailed description, foliar anatomy, both photographic and illustrated compositions, chromosome counts, and molecular phylogeny based on GBS data of the new species is provided in this study.