Clinopodium haraverianum (Lamiaceae: Menthinae), a new species from San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco, Mexico

Abstract

Background: The generic boundaries and phylogenetic relationships of Clinopodium are still unstable. There are 15 species recorded in Mexico, which were also treated under the genera Calamintha or Satureja. Recent botanical explorations in western Mexico led to the discovery of an additional species which possesses relatively long corollas, reddish in color, this morphological pattern fits into the species set previously known as Satureja sect. Gardoquia. Questions: what are the diagnostic morphological characters that support the new species? Which are the species morphologically similar? Studied species: species of Clinopodium inhabiting in Mexico and those belonging to Satureja sect. Gardoquia. Study site and dates: San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco, Spring 2022. Methods: Botanical collects, herborization and morphological characterization of the specimens collected. Comparison with specialized literature, herbarium specimens and nomenclatural types online. Results: The new species Clinopodium haraverianum is distinguished from the other species in the genus by the combination of the following characters: herbaceous habit, stem not branched, leaves progressively reduced in size towards the apex of the stem, calyx strongly bilabiate, corollas with a tube longer than 16 mm and reddish. The most similar species is C. macrostemum, to which it is compared in the diagnosis. Conclusions: Clinopodium haraverianum is set apart from most of the species of Clinopodium by presenting the characters defining the group Gardoquia, and within this, it differs by the habit and size of floral structures. This species constitutes and addition to the endemic flora of Jalisco and consequently of Mexico.