Centaurea fenzlii Reichardt (1863: 1039)

Negaresh, Kazem & Rahiminejad, Mohammad Reza, 2018, A revision of Centaurea sect. Cynaroides (Asteraceae, Cardueae-Centaureinae), Phytotaxa 363 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

10. Centaurea fenzlii Reichardt (1863: 1039) . Type:— TURKEY. B8 Muş: in Kurdistaniae armenae provincial Musch ad radices montis Bimgoell (Bingöl Da.) prope pagum Gumgum , 1 July 1863, Kotschy s.n. (holotype W!: two sheets comprising one specimen). ( Fig. 24 )

Biennial plants, with thickened taproot, whole plant usually green or pale green, 40–120 cm tall; collar of fibrous petiolar remains present at stem base. Stem erect, often simple, 3–10 mm in diam. at base, cylindrical, with thin green striations, lower part loosely covered with hirsute-articulate hairs, other parts ± densely covered with grayish-arachnoid hairs. Leaves firm-coriaceous, undivided, basal and lower ones subglabrous to covered with sparsely hirsute-articulate hairs or scabrous, especially along midrib and veins, other ones ± loosely covered with arachnoid hairs. Basal leaves large, petiolate, ovate-rotundate or cordate, 20–30 × 7–12 cm, remotely serrulate, rounded or acute at apex. Lower cauline leaves with broadly winged petiole, ovate-rotundate or oblanceolate, (13–)18–23 × 4–12 cm, remotely serrulate or entire, rounded to acute at apex. Median cauline leaves sessile, elliptic, 6–10 × 2–4 cm, narrowly decurrent, entire, acute or apiculate at apex. Upper cauline leaves smaller, sessile, linear, not decurrent, entire, mucronate at apex. Capitula few, solitary at ends of a stem and branches, or arranged in a subraceme, peduncles very long, up to 40 cm long, with bracts similar to phyllaries with small stramineous and chaffy appendages. Involucres globose, 30–40 × 30–50(–55) mm. Phyllaries multiseriate, scarious-coriaceous, imbricate, yellowish-green, subglabrous. Appendages very large, chartaceous, totally concealing phyllaries, straw-coloured, orbicular, lacking spine, ciliate; cilia numerous, (15–)20–25 on each side, 1–3 mm long. Outer phyllaries shortly rectangular, ca. 2 × 5 mm, appendages 8–10 × 12–14 mm (including cilia). Median phyllaries rectangular, 11–14 × 9–11 mm, appendages 7–12 × 14–22 mm (including cilia). Inner phyllaries lanceolate to linear, 13–20 × 3–7 mm, appendages ciliate or lacerate. Flowers yellow; central florets hermaphroditic, 30–32 cm long, corolla 12–14 mm long, 5-lobed, lobes 6–7 mm long, style equal to corolla, stigma exserted part from corolla; peripheral florets sterile, slightly shorter than central ones, numerous (20–25 in each capitulum) and conspicuous, finely dissected, not radiant, 5-lobed, limb lobes linear, lobes 4–5 mm long. Achenes oblong, sometimes ovate-oblong, (4.5–) 5–6 mm long, 2.5–2.8 mm wide, pale brown to silver-bronze, sometimes dark brown, smooth, glabrous; insertion areole lateral, 1–1.2 mm long. Pappus double, persistent, multiseriate, scabrous, brown, 6–10 mm long, bristles of inner rows much shorter than others, ca. 2 mm long.

Nomenclatural notes: — Wagenitz (1960) treated one sheet at the herbarium W as lectotype and another as isolectotype. In Flora of Turkey (1975), he mentioned only the holotype . Our study showed that two sheets deposited at the herbarium W belong to a single specimen. Therefore, the lectotypification by Wagenitz (1960) should be rejected, and the relevant collection must be considered as a holotype .

Taxonomic and distribution remarks: — Centaurea fenzlii is endemic to Ağri, Bingöl, Erzurum, Mush and Malatya Provinces, SE to E Turkey ( Fig. 22 ). Its distribution is wider in comparison to the other species of C. sect. Cynaroides that are growing in Turkey. Centaurea fenzlii is an Irano-Turanian element, and grows in steppes, fallow fields and forests, at elevations of 1150–1850 m. It is a distinct species without close relatives. Its morphological characters that are very distinctive as: 1. capitula solitary at end of stem and branches, or arranged in a subraceme, peduncles very long, up to 40 cm long; 2. appendages lacking spine; and 3. having the greatest number of cilia ((15–)20–25) on each side).

Chromosome numbers: — Uysal et al. (2009), Polat (2009), Gedic et al. (2014) and Aksoy et al. (2016) reported the same chromosome number 2 n = 2 x =18 for Centaurea fenzlii .

Selected specimens examined:— TURKEY. B8 Mush: ad viam 35 km NW Mush versus Bingöl, 1500 m, 1 July 1975, Rechinger 53922 ( E!); 6 km S of Varto , 1600 m, 11 July 1966, Davis 46318 ( E!); road from Mush to Bingöl, 1200 m, 1972, Brown 761 ( E!); Bulanik to Muş, nr Hasangüran, 1820 m, Huber-Morath 10880 (Hb. Hub. - Mor.!) . B7 Malatya: 12 km from Arapkir to Kemaliye , 1160 m, 23 June 1949, Huber-Morath 9296 ( E!) . B9 Ağri: 2 km SW of Hamur ( Murat valley ), 1670 m, 1 June 1966, Davis 44077 ( E!) .

Figures

FIGURE 22. Distribution of Centaurea charrelii (circles), C. doddsii (squares), and C. fenzlii (triangles).

FIGURE 24. Centaurea fenzlii Reichardt (Kotschy s.n., W). A. habit with all details. B. close up of capitule. Scale B = 2 cm.