Endangered Gladiolus Species of Turkey

Abstract

Gladiolus is a perennial geophyte, semi-rustice herb and belongs to the Iridaceae family. Gladiolus is an important bulbous ornamental plant. It is used as cut flowers, garden and potted plants. Turkey, which is among the major gene centers of the world and has a special place in plant genetic diversity, has rich genetic resources of geophytes including Gladiolus. However, many plant genetic resources, including Gladiolus are under genetic erosion because of the environmental and other problems and therefore face with the danger of extinction. Turkey has one Gladiolus species in IUCN Red List category. This species is Gladiolus italicus and its Red list category is Least Concern (LC). Gladiolus italicus is distributed in Macaronesia, Mediterranean basin to central Asia. Also introduced and naturalized in California. It naturally grows in many parts of Turkey. The other Gladiolus species that are reported to be under threat in Turkey are; Gladiolus anatolicus, Gladiolus antakiensis, Gladiolus halophilus, Gladiolus humilis, Gladiolus micranthus. In addition to their potential usage as ornamental plants, their usage in phytomedicine due to the medical properties of the modified stems, leaves and in other related industries increases their importance. Therefore, it is very important to protect these genetic resources of Gladiolus.