Sulcolluma mirbatensis McCoy, an unique new species from the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

Lying at the base Jebel Samhan, Dhofar’s highest mountain, the small coastal village of Mirbat, Oman has an interesting history. The name Mirbat in Arabic means “a place to tie up or stable horses ”. Although the exact reason for Mirbat acquiring this name has been lost in antiquity, it would seem to be a reference to a former stable or export center of Arabian horses at this site. In former times, Mirbat was a well known stop on the frankincense route. Frankincense, a highly revered incense, produced by the South Arabian plant Boswellia sacra Flueck. was a very important commodity in these areas in the not so distant past, and it was from these trade centers that it found its way to the Mediterranean and beyond. What seems to be the most interesting fact in Mirbat’s history is that it was here in the early 1800’s, that the rogue pirate, Muhammed Aqil Ajaibi settled with his private army of over 500 African slaves to rule as governor of the region, when he gave up his buccaneering way of life. During his time of piracy, Muhammed Aqil captured an American ship in the Red Sea, taking with him a 10-year-old American boy hostage. In the ensuing years, Aqil raised him as his own, training the boy in the arts of piracy. The young boy also converted to Islam and was given the Muslim name Abdullah Lorleyd. When his surrogate father changed his swashbuckling ways to settle in the Dhofar, Abdullah joined him taking a wife and later raising a family as well. In 1829 Muhammed Aqil was assassinated as he left the fort he had built in Mirbat. His murder, no doubt prompted by his earlier exploits, left his young, kidnapped American protege to rule as the new governor of Dhofar marking a strange chapter in Omani history. It is from this area on the south-west coast of Oman, in Southern Arabia that the new species of stapeliad described in the following text occurs. The genus Sulcolluma Plowes is a small group of stapeliads characterized by the fact that all exhibit a supra-dental groove in the upper surface of their stem teeth. All the presently described species of Sulcolluma are known only from either Yemen or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, so it is of great interest to add now an Omani species to the group. The most distinctive feature of S. mirbatensis, is its erect inner corona lobes, unlike the other members of the genus whose have their inner corona lobes incumbent on the anthers. Another important character is that S. mirbatensis possesses the smallest flowers of the group. Also of note is the fact that Sulcolluma mirbatensis is found growing on granite, instead of the much more prominent limestone, which forms the greater part of the Dhofar. This new species occurrence here in the far eastern edge of the Dhofar region marks this as the eastern most representative of the genus Sulcolluma. In recent times, varying views have been put forth regarding the taxonomy of the genus Sulcolluma Plowes. It has been suggested that it contains only one species, S. hexagona Lavranos, though the proponent of this view seems to have had little, if any, experience of this exclusively Arabian genus in the field. Apart from an evident underestimation of the considerable and constant floral