Abstract
Valeriana alanyense a new species to science from Southwestern of Turkey, is described and illustrated. The new species exhibits affinities to V. speluncaria and it differs from it in certain morphological characteristics: leaf shape and size, elongated stems and smaller corolla length. Geographical distribution at lower altitudes also sets it significantly from V. speluncaria. A comprehensive description, photos, information regarding its habitat and ecology, comparisons to related species, a distribution map, and conservation status are additionally considered. Moreover, morphological characterizations of V. alanyense and V. speluncaria were supported by using the ISSR PCR technique in molecular analyses. For molecular analyses, six ISSR primers that gave the most polymorphic band profiles for the Valeriana genus were selected among a total of twenty-five primers. As a result of PCR performed with the six selected ISSR primers, a total of 65 band profiles ranging from 250bp to 1200bp were seored. According to the obtained band profile scores and the constructed dendogram analysis, V. alanyense and V. speluncaria can be separated from each other at the species level. This result supports the data obtained from morphological analysis.