Taraxacum tortilobum Florstr., Acta Soc. Fauna Fl. Fenn. 39(4): 11. 1915.

Wolanin, Mateusz, Klichowska, Ewelina, Jedrzejczyk, Iwona, Rewers, Monika & Nobis, Marcin, 2023, Taxonomy and distribution of Taraxacum sect. Erythrosperma (Asteraceae) in Poland, PhytoKeys 224, pp. 1-88 : 1

14. Taraxacum tortilobum Florstr., Acta Soc. Fauna Fl. Fenn. 39(4): 11. 1915.

Type.

Finland, Satakunta, Pori (Bjomeborg), Rafso (Reposaari), the cemetery area, 8 June 1911, B. Florstrom (lectotype H 068135, designated by Doll 1973: 49; isolectotype in H 202526, 202527, 202538, 202541-202543 and in S) .

Description.

Plants small to middle-sized, up to 15(-20) cm tall. Leaves greyish-green to light green, sparsely hairy, approximately (5-)7-10(-14) cm long and (1.5-)2-3(-4.5) cm wide, usually 3-5 times longer than wide, blades elliptical to oblanceolate, with 4-6 pairs of lateral lobes; lateral lobes opposite to remote; lateral lobes of the inner leaves patent or recurved, widened at the base, crisped, with nume-rous filiform teeth at the distal and proximal margins, usually curled at the apex; lateral lobes of the outer leaves triangular, entire or with a few filiform teeth at margins; interlobes frequently dentate; terminal lobe of the inner leaves tripartite with an elongate tongue-shaped tip; terminal lobe of the outer leaves triangular or tripartite, often with a tongue-shaped tip; petioles narrowly winged, pale purplish-red. Scapes as long as or longer than leaves, somewhat hairy, green or suffused pale purplish-red. Capitulum convex, 3-4 cm in diameter, pale yellow, outer strips grey-purple; inner bracts greyish-green, corniculate; outer bracts usually 12-14, ovate to lanceolate, usually 6-7(- 8) mm long and (-1.5)2-3 mm broad, grey-green, suffused with purple, with a white hyaline margin 0.1-0.2 mm broad, loosely adpressed to obliquely spreading, purple at apex, corniculate; stigmas grey-purple, pollen present. Achenes pale grey-brown, achene body spinulose above, 4.7-5.3 mm long (incl. the 1.4-1.9 mm long, narrowly conical cone); for specimens growing in full light achene measurements are 4-4.4 mm (incl. the 0.9-1.3 mm long cone).

Flowering period.

(April) May.

Habitat.

Sandy pine forest edges, dry lawns, scrubs. On the coast of the Baltic Sea ( Gdańsk Stogi) we noticed this species on a sandy path at the edge of a pine-false acacia forest (growing together with Elymus repens ) and on the scrub edge, accompanied by Ballota nigra , Dactylis glomerata , Erigeron annuus , Ficaria verna , Geranium pusillum , G. robertianum , Lamium purpureum , Poa nemoralis , P. pratensis , Stellaria media , Taraxacum proximum , Veronica hederifolia s.l.

Somatic chromosome number.

24 ( Wolanin and Musiał 2018).

General distribution.

Widespread European species reported from Spain, Great Britain, France, Corsica, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia ( Van Soest 1967; Richards 1969; Adema et al. 1982; Lundevall and Øllgaard 1999; Mosyakin and Fedo-ronchuk 1999; Uhlemann 2003; Wendt and Øllgaard 2015; Wolanin and Musiał 2018).

Distribution in Poland.

Species scarce, noted only in Gdańsk (Baltic Sea seashore) (Fig. 36B ).

Specimens examined.

DA80 - Gdańsk, Roland pleasure ground, lawn on sandy ground, 54°24'45"N, 18°36'18"E, 08.05.2016, M. Wolanin (003289 UR); DA81 - Gdańsk (Stogi), sandy place on pine forest edge (along concrete walkway), 54°22'27"N, 18°43'40"E, 7 May 2016, M. Wolanin (003263, 003276, 003302 UR); Gdańsk (Stogi), sands, 54°22'08"N, 18°43'31"E, 8 May 2016, M. Wolanin (003315 UR).

Notes.

Species included in the Dissimilia group, easily identified by a combination of pale grey-brown achenes, leaves strongly crisped, lateral lobes often toothed and curled, outer phyllaries loosely adpressed to obliquely spreading (Figs 39 , 40 ).

Figures

Figure 36. Distribution maps of Taraxacum sect. Erythrosperma in Poland A T. tenuilobum B T. tortilobum; black square - localities recorded during field studies, black circle - other localities known from herbarium data.

Figure 39. Variation in leaf shape in T. tortilobum; locality - Gdansk Stogi (M. Wolanin 2016 UR). Scale bar: 5 cm.

Figure 40. Taraxacum tortilobum; locality - Gdansk Stogi, 2016, photo by M. Wolanin.