Crocus bertiscensis is described as a new species based on morphology, karyology and genotyping-by-sequencing data

A Crocus population in the Northern Albanian Alps obviously belonging to series Verni was considered as C. heuffelianus, but closer field investigations revealed that it could not be identified as C. heuffelianus or any other Verni species.The detailed description as a new species, Crocus bertiscensis, including morphology, leaf anatomy, cytology and phylogenetic affiliation is provided and illustrated herein. Phylogenetic analyses based on genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism data obtained through genotyping-by-sequencing placed C. bertiscensis separated from C. heuffelianus supporting its rank as species within series Verni. Morphologically, it differs from C. heuffelianus by having always solitary flowers with paler and flatter perigone segments, extremely short perigone tubes, 2–3 cataphylls and the white stripe width of 1/7 compared to the leaf diameter. Finally, karyological and molecular analysis revealed that C.bertiscensis is referring to the 2n = 12 cytotype of C. heuffelianus from Cakor Pass area reported by earlier studies.