Gagea kotuchovii (Liliaceae) a new species from the Karatau Mountains (western Tian Shan, Kazakhstan) evidenced by morphological and molecular analyses

Kubentayev S. Levichev I. Baasanmunkh S. Klichowska E. Alibekov D. Choi H.J. Nobis M.
December 2025 Public Library of Science

PLOS ONE
2025 #20 Issue 12 December

Gagea kotuchovii (Liliaceae) a new narrow endemic species growing exclusively in the Karatau Mountains in South Kazakhstan, is here described and illustrated. It is a unique species within the section Gagea, differing from closely related taxa by the presence of several stolons of different lengths (0.5–8 cm), formed on a single vegetative individual, as well as a unique bulb with a densely woolly sheath. Morphological characteristics, distribution map, and illustrations of the habit and habitats of the new species are presented. We also present phylogenetic analyses based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear DNA and SNPs obtained from DArT genome-wide sequencing (Diversity Arrays Technology sequencing), which confirmed the isolated position of G. kotuchovii but also revealed its phylogenetic relation with morphologically similar species. Additionally, our results reveal phylogenetic intergeneric organization of Gagea representatives occurring in Kazakhstan and/or Middle Asia. To facilitate morphological identification of Asian Gagea with stolons, and similar to G. kotuchovii, we present an identification key.

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Astana Botanical Garden, Astana, Kazakhstan
Komarov Botanical Institute of RAS, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
Department of Biology and Microbiology, Changwon National University, Changwon, South Korea
Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

Astana Botanical Garden
Komarov Botanical Institute of RAS
Department of Biology and Microbiology
Institute of Botany

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