Echinops ilicifolius Bunge (1863: 403)

Montazerolghaem, Somayeh, Rahiminejad, Mohammad Reza, Mozaffarian, Valiollah & Susanna, Alfonso, 2016, Taxonomic notes on the genus Echinops (Compositae, Cardueae-Echinopsinae) in Iran, Phytotaxa 263 (2), pp. 81-97 : 88-91

2. Echinops ilicifolius Bunge (1863: 403) .

Type:— IRAN. Inter Kerman et Yezd, April 1859, Bunge s.n. ( P, K, photo!).

= Echinops ilicifolius var. glanduliger Bornmüller (1918: 214) , syn. nov.

Type:— IRAN. Yesd (Yazd): ad pagum Taft, April 1892, Bornmüller 4053 ( B!) ( Fig. 5).

Bornmüller (1918) described his new variety on the basis of glandular hairs on the stem of the type specimen. A precise and extensive examination of specimens at W, B, HUI and TARI revealed the presence of a continuous range of the stem indumentum from dense short stalked glandular hairs to sparsely glabrescent. Therefore this variety should be considered a synonym of E. ilicifolius .

Specimens examined:— IRAN. Yesd: ad pagum Taft , April 1892, Bornmüller 4053 ( B!) ; Yazd: Taft, Nodeshan , 1500–1850 m, 16 June 1976, Moussavi & Tehrani 34989 ( W!) ; N of Yazd, road of Taft to Shirkuh , 1750m, 19 July 1977, Rajamand & Bazargan 33134 ( W!) ; Prov. Semnan et Yezd: ad margines deserti inter Nain et Aghda , ca. 1000 m, 21 April 1948, Rechinger 2705 ( W!) ; Esfahan: 54 km from Ardakan to Naein , 1150 m, 15 May 1999, Mozaffarian 79245 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: Mehriz, just beginning of the road to Dehbala , 1500 m, 16 May 1999, Mozaffarian 79257 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: ca. 15 km from Ardakan to Naein , 1100 m, 15 May 1999, Mozaffarian 79246 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: Taft , 1520 m, 2 May 2000, Mozaffarian 79865 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: Mehriz , 1300–1700 m, 3 May 2000, Mozaffarian 79867 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: 72 km SE Yazd , 1530 m, 9 May 1961, Pabot 7030 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: junction of Kerman to Bafgh , 1200 m, 13 October 1981, Assadi & Abouhamzeh 36379 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: on the road from Baft to Dehbala , 1750 m, 19 July 1977, Rajamand & Bazargan 33134 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: Mehriz to Yazd, 15 km to Yazd, 1430 m, 24 May 2013, Montazerolghaem 20018, 20019 ( HUI!) ; Isfahan: Beginning of the Naein-Anarak road, 1481 m, 25 May 2013, Montazerolghaem 20020 ( HUI!) ; Yazd: Aqda to Naein, 60 km to Naein , 1185 m, 25 May 2013, Montazerolghaem 20027 ( HUI!) ; Yazd: Ardakan to Naein, 95 km to Naein , 1100 m, 25 May 2013, Montazerolghaem 20028 ( HUI!) .

3a. Echinops sect. Oligolepis Bunge (1863: 403) .

Type species:— Echinops leucographus Bunge.

= Echinops sect. Pleiacme Bornmüller (1918: 214) , syn. nov.

Type species:— Echinops cervicornis Bornmüller.

3b. Echinops lasiolepis Bunge (1863: 403) .

Type:— IRAN. Inter Jezd et Ispahan, Bunge s.n. ( P, photo!) ( Fig. 6).

= Echinops cervicornis Bornmüller (1918: 214) , syn. nov.

Type:— IRAN. Yazd: In desertis arenosis prope Yazd, 1600 m, 3 April 1892, Bornmüller 4054 ( B!) ( Fig. 7).

Bornmüller (1918) described E. cervicornis and based on it his monotypic E. sect. Pleiacme. The diagnostic character of this section is free innermost phyllaries equipped with branched and deer-horned spine. Bobrov (1962) recognized E. sect. Pleiacme and developed its description this way: all the involucral bracts free; outer and middle bracts acicular, along margin in upper pointed part appearing almost like branched horns. He included two species in this section: E. cervicornis , endemic of south Iran, and E. tournefortii Ledebour ex Trautvetter (1833: 21) with a wide distribution ( Iran, Turkey, USSR, Lebanon, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq). Rechinger (1979) included E. cervicornis in Flora Iranica but its sectional position was not determined. Regarding the results of this study and the relevant literature, it is obvious that E. tournefortii belongs to E. sect. Echinops and is quite different from E. cervicornis , the former having non-cornigerous heads, attenuate-acuminate phyllaries, scabrous and somewhat divergent spinules whereas the latter has cornigerous upper and lower capitula with a deer-shaped horn. Mozaffarian (2002, 2006, 2008a) suggested that the type specimen of E. cervicornis carried two different plants made it as pro parte synonym of E. lasiolepis and E. ilicifolius .

Direct examination of the type specimen of E. cervicornis by the first author shows that this plant has arachnoid hairs on the stem and surface of the leaves and phyllaries and clearly belongs to E. lasiolepis . However, the difference is the free innermost phyllaries in this specimen and the connation of innermost phyllaries in a coriaceous tube in E. lasiolepis which is an effect of developmental variability ( Kožuharov 1975), as mentioned in the introduction. Consequently, E. sect. Pleiacme should be considered a synonym of E. sect. Oligolepis.

Specimens examined:— IRAN. Yazd: In desertis arenosis prope Yazd, 1600 m, 3 April 1892, Bornmüller 4054 ( B!) ; Anarak, Khur , 940 m, 12 October 1972, Riazi 6831 ( W!) ; Persia: Yazd: 12 km W Chah Kharbozeh, versus Anarak , 17 May 1975, Rechinger 51996 ( W!) ; Yazd: just beginning of the road to Mehriz , 1450 m, 16 May 1999, Mozaffarian 79262 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: 63 km to Bafgh , on the road from Yazd, 1400 m, 28 May 1986, Assadi & Bazgosha 56004 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: Mehriz, just beginning of the road to Dehbala , 1500 m, 16 May 1999, Mozaffarian 79258 ( TARI!) ; Esfahan: 6 km from Naien to Anarak , 1440 m, 15 May 1999, Mozaffarian 79241 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: 21 km to Anarak, on the road from Chupanan , 1300 m, 6 June 1986, Assadi & Bazgosha 56537 ( TARI!) ; Yazd: Anar to Yazd, 45 km to Yazd, 1480m, 24 May 2013, Montazerolghaem 20017 ( HUI!) .