New distributional and molecular information call into question the systematic position of the West Asian Viola sintenisii (Violaceae)

The west Asian Viola sintenisii W.Becker, described from temperate woodlands of northern Iran and south-western Turkmenistan on the Caspian coast, was long considered a vicariant geographical subspecies of the mainly south European V alba Besser. The new findings of V sintenisii in four geographically separated stations in north-eastern Azerbaijan significantly expands its range of distribution. These occurrences are within the range of V alba ssp. alba. Here the two taxa frequently co-occur but remain distinct and V sintenisii is therefore justified at species level. It is likely that the two species are also sympatric in the Hyrcanian region, a range previously attributed uniquely to the latter. Viola sintenisii seems to be fairly common in the eastern parts of the Great Caucasus, but there are reasons to suggest that it has there been misinterpreted as V suavis. The chromosome number of V sintenisii, 2n = 20, is reported here for the first time. (C) 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005,147,91-98.