S. I. Ali and I.G. Levichev
Gagea persica var. kashmirensis (Turrill) S. Dasgupta & Deb
Plants solitary and in small groups of uneven-age specimens with numerous filiform leaves. Bulb 3-8 mm in diameter, obliquely-dro p-shaped, covered by black-brown, coriaceous tunics, without sclerified roots. Basal vegetative bulbil always large, extended, semi-dro p-shaped, with smooth adjoining surface, fine-meshed outside, in immature plants on the surface of the soil in axils of twisted hair-l ike leaves the capitate group of bulbils is present at the end of the tru ncated peduncle. Peduncle 4-8 cm in height, in T.S. vaguely semicircular, hollow, about 1 mm in diameter. Basal leaves 1-2-1 (in immature and in the beginning of generative stages 2 leaves), hair-l ike, exceeding the inflorescence, up to 1 mm in width, in T.S. angular. Leaves on the peduncle alternate, decreasing, two of them always below the first branching, lower are much shorter than the inflorescence, lanceolate, in the lower third (up to 3-4 mm. broad), quickly narrowed to apical long cylindrical tip. Inflorescence more or less branching (in young plants verticillate), 3-7-flowered. Tepals 6-10 mm long, about 1 mm broad, lanceolate, pointed, yellow, outside green, almost equal. Anthers yellow, oblong, dehiscence roundish. Capsule obovate, 2 times shorter than the perianth. Seeds terete.
Fl. Per.: May-June
Neotype (designated here): "Taschkent, 1899, leg. Chomutowa" specimen marked "N" (LE!).
Distribution: Turkmenistan, S. Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Kirgizia, Tajikistan, Xinjiang (Tianshan), Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, N. India, Kashmir.
In the description of this species Pascher (l.c.) has not specified the place of collection and the collector: "Turkestan, legit?". In note Pascher has written, that he saw only 2 plants ("….dieser neuen Art, die mir nur in 2 Exemplaren vorlag…."). Such herbarium specimens for the time being have not been found. The type (practically - neotype) of this species had originally been designated in another collection (Davlianidze, 1976: 112): " Typus: Falls near aryk Sijab in vicinities of Samarkand, 4 III 1869, O. Fedtschenko (LE!) ". According to Art. 9.14 (ICBN, 2000) from this material it was necessary to choose a single sample. Such a choice was not made (Art. 9.17.b). In the protologue it is stated that “folio basalia unico.” Out of 7 specimens, 4 specimens do not have a basal leaf. Further, in LE there are other collections not contradicting the protologue. On 3 sheets we have autographs of Pascher, without date, likely executed in 1907. Out of these specimens, a neotype, is chosen corresponding with the protologue.