Cremanthodium pseudo-oblongatum Good (1929: 297)

Wang, Long, Ren, Chen & Yang, Qin-Er, 2017, Cremanthodium lingulatum (Asteraceae, Senecioneae) is merged with C. pseudo-oblongatum, Phytotaxa 311 (1), pp. 57-66 : 61-64

Cremanthodium pseudo-oblongatum Good (1929: 297) . Figs. 1, 2, 5−7.

Type:— CHINA. Xizang: Nyingchi, Tumbatse (= Dongbacai), 10000−11000 feet (= 3000−3300 m) a.s.l., 13 July 1924, F. Kingdon-Ward

5931 ( E 00413148!, lectotype designated here; isolectotypes BM!, K!). Fig. 5. = Cremanthodium lingulatum Liu (1984: 57) , syn. nov. Type:— CHINA. Xizang: Nyingchi, western slope of Sejila Shan , 4300 m a.s.l., 2 August 1975, Qinghai-Xizang Suppl. Exped. 75-1044

(holotype HNWP!; isotypes HNWP!, KUN!, PE!). Fig. 1.

Perennial herbs, grayish green, glabrous. Rhizome short, surrounded by remains of withered petioles. Stems erect, to 60 cm tall, ca. 3 mm in diameter at base. Basal leaves more or less petiolate or subsessile; petiole to 10 cm long, slender, base sheathed; leaf blade ovate-oblong, oblong or elliptic, 2.5−12 cm long, 1.4−8 cm wide, pinnately veined, adaxially bright green, abaxially grayish green, base subtruncate, subcuneate or occasionally very shallowly cordate, apex rotund, obtuse or acute, margin entire or slightly mucronate; pinnate veins slightly sunken adaxially, slightly prominent abaxially. Stem leaves 2−6; proximal stem leaves smaller than basal leaves, sessile or shortly petiolate, erect; leaf blade usually lingulate-spatulate or lingulate-oblong, margin entire, base amplexicaul; middle and distal stem leaves sessile, leaf blade ovate-oblong or oblong, tubular-amplexicaul, margin entire, apex acute or acuminate. Leaf-like bracteoles below capitulum 1 or 2, often linear-lanceolate. Capitula 1−3 (−4), nodding, solitary or arranged in a lax raceme. Involucre hemispheric, ca. 1.5 cm high, 1.5−2 cm in diameter, grayish green, outside glabrous; phyllaries 11−14, in 2 rows; outer ones lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2−4 mm broad, margin entire, apex acuminate; inner ones oblong, 5−7 mm broad, margin membranous, apex acute or obtuse. Ray florets 8−12, yellow; lamina linear-lanceolate, 1.5−3 cm long, ca. 3−5 mm broad, apex acute to acuminate; tube ca. 2 mm long. Tubular florets numerous, yellow, 1−1.5 cm long; tube ca. 2 mm long; limb ca. 5 mm long. Achenes dark brown, oblong, 3−5 mm long. Pappus white, 5−8 mm long, as long as or longer than tubular corolla.

Distribution and habitat: — Cremanthodium pseudo-oblongatum is distributed in southeastern Xizang, China ( Fig. 9). It grows in alpine meadows or alpine scrub at elevations between 3300–5000 m above sea level.

Phenology: —Flowering July to August; fruiting September.

Additional specimens examined: — CHINA. Xizang: Bomi, B.S. Li & S.Z. Cheng 00689 (PE), Qinghai-Xizang Veget. Exped. 10092 (PE), G.C. Xia & T.K. Mi 726 (PE), T.S. Ying & D.Y. Hong 65-1010 (PE); Gongbo’gyamda, F. Ludlow et al. 15475 (E), F. Ludlow et al. 15786 (E); Mainling, F. Ludlow et al. 5993 (E), Xizang Med. Plant Exped. 4019 (HNWP, PE); Nyingchi, Anonymous 2264 (PE), Y.S. Chen & Z.H. Wang 9382 (KUN, PE), B.Z. Kuo & W.Y. Wang 23248 (HNWP), F. Ludlow et al. 5101 (E), J. Luo et al. 049 (KUN), L. Wang et al. 1034 (IBSC), G. Yao 2200 (NAS), W.L. Zhen 0198 (XZE).

Notes: —In his account of Cremanthodium Bentham (1873: 37) in the Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae, Liu (1989) placed C. pseudo-oblongatum to C. sect. Pinnatinervia (“ Pinnatinervus ”) Ling & Liu in Liu (1982: 51) ser. Oblongata Ling & Liu in Liu (1989: 145). From a morphological perspective, this species may better be transferred to C. sect. Pinnatinervia ser. Glauca Ling & Liu in Liu (1989: 140).

Cremanthodium glaucum Handel-Mazzetti (1937: 641) , a species in northwestern Yunnan (Weixi, Zhongdian), is most closely similar to C. pseudo-oblongatum , differing slightly only in the shape and length of the ray lamina (lanceolate, 1−2.6 cm long vs. linear-lanceolate, 1.5−3 cm long). Another species, C. yadongense Liu (1984: 62) , which is currently known only from the holotype (P.C. Tsoong 5832; PE) collected from Yadong in southern Xizang, is also most closely similar to C. pseudo-oblongatum . Both species differ mainly in the pubescence of stem and involucre and the shape of leaf base. In C. yadongense , the stem is brown pubescent distally, the involucre is abaxially brown pubescent at base, and the leaf base is often obviously cordate. In C. pseudo-oblongatum , both the stem and involucre are glabrous, and the leaf base is only occasionally very shallowly cordate. As a result, the occurrence of C. pseudo-oblongatum in the western Himalaya, northern India (Sikkim) and Bhutan ( Good 1929, Grierson & Springate 2001) remains to be verified. The specimens from these regions previously referred to C. pseudo-oblongatum , such as R. Lepcha 505 (E; cited as a paratype of C. pseudo-oblongatum ) from Sikkim, seem to match perfectly the holotype of C. yadongense in all characters. The type locality of C. yadongense , i.e. Yadong in southern Xizang, is contiguous to Sikkim. Indeed, further studies, particularly observations on living plants in the field, are needed to clarify the relationships between C. glaucum , C. pseudo-oblongatum and C. yadongense .

Marquand (1929) referred the type collection of C.pseudo-oblongatum, F.Kingdon-Ward 5931,to C. bupleurifolium Smith (1913: 112) , a species distributed in southwestern Sichuan (Muli) and northwestern Yunnan (Dêqên). Hu (1966) also did so, although in the same paper she recognized C. pseudo-oblongatum as a separate species and cited F. Kingdon-Ward 5931 as its type. Morphologically C. bupleurifolium differs immediately from C. pseudo-oblongatum by the absence of pappus.