Sideritis elica

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

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| genus = Sideritis

| species = elica

| authority = Aneva, Zhelev and Bonchev

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Sideritis elica is a plant species in the genus Sideritis, endemic to Bulgaria.{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364821023|title=Sideritis elica, a New Species of Lamiaceae from Bulgaria, Revealed by Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny|access-date=1 October 2023}}{{cite journal|author=Ina Aneva|title=Sideritis elica, a New Species of Lamiaceae from Bulgaria, Revealed by Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny|journal=Plants |date=2022 |volume=11 |issue=21 |page=2900 |publisher=National Library of Medicine|doi=10.3390/plants11212900 |doi-access=free |pmid=36365353 |pmc=9654456 }} The species was discovered and described by Associate Prof. Ina Aneva and Senior Assistant Prof. Georgi Bonchev of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, as well as by Prof. Petar Zhelev of the University of Forestry in Sofia.{{cite web|url=https://bnr.bg/en/post/101729001/new-plant-species-discovered-in-bulgaria|title=New plant species discovered in Bulgaria|publisher=Bulgarian National Radio|access-date=1 October 2023}}

The molecular analysis supports the morphological data about the divergence between the more widespread Sideritis scardica and Sideritis elica. The studied populations of the two taxa were found to be genetically distant.

The species is only known from the northern foothills of the central Rhodope Mountains, where it grows in the Chervenata Stena Reserve near Asenovgrad and Bachkovo Monastery.