Nova Biologica Reperta

Onosma nuristanica (Boraginaceae), a new species from Afghanistan

Authors

Atiqullah Sultani Ahmadzai 1
Hamid Ejtehadi 1
Mohammad Farzam 2
Maral Bashirzadeh 2
Farideh Attar 3
Mohammad Reza Joharchi 4

1 Quantitative Plant Ecology and Biodiversity Research Lab., Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

2 Department of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

3 Central herbarium of Tehran University, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Iran

4 Herbarium FUMH, Department of Botany, Research Center for Plant Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract
The new species Onosma nuristanica is described and illustrated here on the basis of specimens collected from Parun in Nuristan and Chapa Dareh in Kunar, one of the eastern provinces of Afghanistan. An extensive review of the literature and a comparative study with specimens from several herbaria led to the determine of this new species. Our results represent significant divergence between studied specimens in terms of the most important morphological features, i.e., flower color, pedicel length, bract length filaments length, cauline shape and form. In this article, a detailed description of the new species and a diagnostic key for Onosma species thriving in Afghanistan are provided and the new species is compared morphologically with its closely related species. In addition, a distribution map is provided for the new species and its close relatives in the area.


Keywords

Afghanistan
endemic
new species
Lithospermeae
Taxonomy
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  • Receive Date 08 June 2026
  • Publish Date 08 June 2026

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