Poa girdevensis Cabi, L. J. Gillespie & Soreng 2026, sp. nov.

2.Poa girdevensisCabi, L. J. Gillespie & Soreng sp. nov. Type. Turkey • Muğla, Girdev Daği {AKA Eren Dağ, west side}, below summit, accessed from pass along Seki Girdev Gölü road, 36 ° 43 ' 32 " N, 29 ° 37 ' 56 " E, 2,470 m, Steep, rocky, east facing slope in alpine zone, 27 Jun 2011, L. J. Gillespie, E. Cabi, R. J. Soreng et K. Boudko 10593 * (holotype: CAN [CAN 10126341]; isotype: US, (NAKU?, METU also?)). Diagnosis. Differing from Poa anatolica in having 13–40 spikelets, closely spaced, rarely two, often more than 5 (– 11) per longest branch [vs. 8–13, widely spaced, 1–2 (3–5) per branch); spikelets with 2–3 (– 4) florets [vs. 3–5 (– 6)]; ligules of culm leaves 2–3 mm long (vs. 0.5–1.5). Description. Perennials; hermaphroditic; tufted, without horizontal or downward tending cataphyllous shoots, sometimes branching at the base from old culms, dense, small, delicate, pale greyish-green; tillers intravaginal (rarely extravaginal); prophylls elongated, 2 - keeled, hyaline, longitudinally split (or fused in the smallest shoots), keels finely retrorsely scabrid; bulbs tiny, slightly inflated at the base. Culms 9–23 cm tall, erect, slightly decumbent, slightly compressed, slender (0.5–1 mm in broadest diam.), striate, smooth, glabrous, with 0–1 node exerted. Leaves mostly basal; leaf sheaths 3–7 cm long, 0.4–1.3 mm diam. smooth, glabrous, basal sheaths forming indistinct bulbs, the outer ones slightly inflated / loose, thin papery, whitish to eventually brown and withering to form a weak but distinct tunic, the inner ones slightly thickened, bulb small (ca 2 mm tall); flag - leaf sheaths 3–7 cm long, margins fused 28–44 % the length; ligules of culm leaves 2–3 mm long, hyaline, abaxially lightly scabrous, apices entire or dentate; ligules of lower culm and sterile shoots 0.2–0.6 mm long, upper ones to 3 mm long and decurrent; blades (1 –) 1.5–5 cm long, 0.5–1 (– 1.4) mm wide, slightly reduced upwards (0.5 –) 1–5 cm long, folded, with involute margins, soft, moderately thin, abaxially smooth, adaxially with a single groove on each side of mid-vein developed in some leaves, smooth or scaberulous along mid-vein and sometimes others, margins sparsely scabrous, narrowly prow-tipped; sterile shoot blades 0.4–0.5 mm when closed, mostly capillary. Panicles 3–7.5 cm long, 2–5 cm wide, erect, eventually wide open (immature), sparsely flowered, with ca 13–40 spikelets; branches 1–2 (– 3) per node; primary branches (1.7 –) 3–4.7 cm (0.44–0.78 x the panicle, av. 0.59 x), with 2–11 spikelets per branch in the distal 1 / 3, ascending to spreading, fairly strict, capillary, weakly sulcate to angled, smooth, or lightly scabrous below the spikelets; pedicels slightly shorter than spikelets. Spikelets (4.5 –) 5–7 mm long, elliptical, laterally compressed, strongly violaceous; not bulbiferous, (rarely mutated, with spikelets within spikelets); florets 2–3 (– 4); rachilla internodes 1–1.5 mm long, visible in side view, slender, smooth, glabrous; glumes unequal, elliptic to oblong, margins hyaline, (infrequently denticulate), edges finely scaberulous distally, acute; lower glumes 2.5–3 (– 3.2) mm long, 1 (– 3) - veined; upper glumes 2.5–3.5 (– 4) mm long, 3 - veined; callus glabrous, dorsally pinched; lemmas 2.5–3.7 (– 4) mm long, 5 - veined, lanceolate, 5 - veined, thin, violaceous, weakly but distinctly keeled, slightly gibbous at base, glabrous, keel sparsely scaberulous distally, between keels smooth or sparsely muriculate, intermediate veins faint, margins hyaline (with a trace of bronzy color sometimes), distally scaberulous, (infrequently denticulate), apices acute to apiculate; palea keels scabrous in distal 1 / 3–2 / 3. intercostal region narrow, smooth or sparsely muriculate. Flowers bisexual; anthers 1.5–1.8 mm long; ovary glabrous. Caryopses unknown. Clade code: Hn. Distribution and ecology. Turkey. Alpine, steep low-shrubby rocky limestone slopes and edges of turfy seasonally wet meadows; 2,470 –2,800 m. Conservation status. Endemic to Muğla, rare, known from two collections approximately 100 m apart, in different habitats. Probably Vulnerable based on criteria B 1 / B 2 a and D 2 ab. Threats are sheep and goat grazing and the predictable loss of alpine habitat due to climate change. No studies have been conducted to estimate population size, area occupied, or potential habitat area. Comments. The Type and a second sample of this taxon were included in a phylogenetic study as “ Poa sp. ” (Gillespie et al. 2026). Based on plastid data they resolved near the base of the H - clade, but they nested within the n - clade based on nrDNA. A collection by Strid, Hartvig et Seçmen 23523 from 20 km further south in Muğla, seems to match P. anatolica but for the longer ligules (2.5 mm). See discussion under that species. Representative specimens. Turkey. Muğla (Girdev Daği, Gillespie et al. 10590 * CAN, US; Type, 10593 * CAN, US).