Xiphion heracleanum sp. nov. (Iridaceae) from Morocco

As a part of the revision of Xiphion (Iris subg. Xiphion) for the ‘Flora Iberica’ project, some material collected in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Tangiers area (northern Morocco) was found impossible to assign to any of the known taxa in the genus. In part, they resembled X. junceum and X. rutherfordii, but showed a peculiar combination of vegetative and floral characters which to date is exclusive. Accordingly, the new species X. heracleanum Mart. Rodr. & M. B. Crespo is described for these plants, and evidence is reported to justify the adopted treatment. Relationships to other taxa in the genus are also discussed, and the new combination X. rutherfordii (Mart. Rodr., P. Vargas, M. Carine & Jury) Mart. Rodr. & M. B. Crespo comb. nov. is provided.This research was partly supported by both the investigation project ‘Flora Iberica IX’ (CGL2008-02982-C03) and the project ‘El Estrecho de Gibraltar y la evolución de las angiospermas: análisis moleculares, citogenéticos y reproductores’ (BES-2003-1538 REN2002-04354-C02-01), of the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia