Scorzonera lanata, (L.) Hoffm.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 322

27. S. lanata (L.) Hoffm. , Comment. Soc. Phys. Med. Mosq. 1: 9 (1806).

Perennial 3-22 cm, more or less sericeous-lanate throughout; rootstock vertical, with a globose tuber 2-5 cm below surface of soil, not fibrous at apex. Stems solitary or few, simple or sparingly branched at the base, ascending to erect, leafy only below. Leaves 3-10 x O-l-O-5(-O-8) cm, linear or linear-lanceolate. Involucre 10-15 mm, up to 20 mm in fruit. Ligules 1-1.2 times as long as involucre, yellow, reddish outside. Achenes c. 4 mm. Pappus-hairs 3-4 times as long as achene, plumose, pale reddish-brown. Dry, usually rocky places. E. part of Balkan peninsula, just extending to S. W. Romania. Bu Gr Rm Tu.

The plants from Europe and Anatolia have been called S. sublanata Lipsch. , Fragm. Monogr. Scorzonerae 2:42 (1939), since typical S. lanata from the Caucasus is more densely lanate and has often wider leaves and longer ligules; some European specimens, however, match material from the Caucasus very closely, and the two plants would seem to merit subspecific distinction at the most.