A new species of Pseudoblepharispermum (Asteraceae, Plucheeae) from NE Somalia

Abstract Baldesi, G., L. Pignotti & R.M. Baldini (2020). A new species of Pseudoblepharispermum (Asteraceae, Plucheeae) from NE Somalia. Candollea 75: 183–188. In English, English abstract. A new species of the genus Pseudoblepharispermum Lebrun & Stork (Asteraceae), up to now including Pseudoblepharispermum bremeri Lebrun & Stork and Pseudoblepharispermum mudugense Beentje & D.J.N. Hind, is described from two herbarium specimens housed at FT, collected in 1954 near the Indian Ocean coast of Bari Region, NE Somalia. These specimens formed an unidentified remaining part of a collection given to FT by the Italian geologists G. Merla, A. Azzaroli and V. Fois, who had led a geologic expedition in the former Migiurtinia (current Bari Region) on behalf of an Italian oil company. The new species Pseudoblepharispermum tuddense Baldesi & Pignotti is more similar to Pseudoblepharispermum bremeri from S Ethiopia than to Pseudoblepharispermum mudugense from central Somalia. Close examinations of macro- and micro-characters were carried out for the new species and compared with the features of Pseudoblepharispermum bremeri. Diagnostic characters are listed to support the taxonomic distinction between the new species and Pseudoblepharispermum bremeri. Received: May 9, 2020; Accepted: August 20, 2020; First published online: October 29, 2020