Cytisus austriacus L., Sp. Pl., ed. 2, 2: 1042 (1763)

Sennikov, Alexander N. & Tikhomirov, Valery N., 2024, Atlas Florae Europaeae notes, 35. Further critical notes on Cytisus sect. Tubocytisus (Fabaceae) in Europe, PhytoKeys 238, pp. 199-230 : 199

3. Cytisus austriacus L., Sp. Pl., ed. 2, 2: 1042 (1763)

- Chamaecytisus austriacus (L.) Link, Handb. 2: 155 (1831).

= Cytisus supinus var. noeanus Briq., Étud. Cytises Alpes Mar.: 182 (1894) - Cytisus austriacus subsp. noeanus (Briq.) Jáv., Magyar Fl. 2: 608 (1924). Type. Greece. “Rumelia” [Nicopolis], 06.1846, Noe [251] (syntype K 000829490).

= Cytisus litwinowii V.I.Krecz. in Bot. Zhurn. SSSR 25: 256 (1940), syn. nov. - Chamaecytisus litwinowii (V.I.Krecz.) Klásk. in Preslia 30: 214 (1958). Type. Russia. Belgorod Region: Korocha Town, "Pushkarnoe forest" [west of Pushkarnoe Village], hills, on calcareous substrate, 05.1893, I. Schirajewsky (holotype LE 01080951). Fig. 5 .

= Chamaecytisus pseudojankae Pifkó & Barina in Stud. Bot. Hung. 47(1): 169 (2016), syn. nov. Type. Albania. District of Korçë (Rrethi i Korçës), Thatë Mountains (Mali i Thatë), ca 1.7 km north of village “Zvezdë”, on the south-eastern ridge of Mount “Zvezdë” (1,833 m), in rocky grassland, on limestone, 40.74774°N, 20.86148°E, 1477 m elev., 25.05.2007, Z. Barina, D. Pifkó & Cs. Németh 11736 (holotype BP 750418; isotype W 2010-03241).

Type.

Historical Hungary ( “Ungaria”). Herb. Burser XXII: 3, left-hand specimen (lectotype UPS, designated by Cristofolini in Turland and Jarvis (1997: 468)).

Distribution.

Europe: mountainous regions from Austria to western Ukraine and from southern Poland to Greece and European Turkey, with the presence in southern East European uplands; Asia: Turkey, Russian Caucasus ( Gibbs 1970; Tzvelev 1987; Cristofolini 1991).

Notes on taxonomy.

This species is highly variable in respect of the pubescence on its leaves and calyces and is currently recognised in a broad sense, with some infraspecific taxa ( Cristofolini 1991). Our current treatment is focused on the typical plants, corresponding to C. austriacus s. str.

A short-leaved variant of the species was separated as C. austriacus subsp. microphyllus "(Boiss.) Boiss." by Cristofolini (1991), probably because of Baldacci 315 (BM 000750880) which was the basis for the treatment of C. austriacus var. microphyllus in Baldacci (1899). This collection from Mt. Smolikas in north-western Greece consists of subalpine plants of C. austriacus s. str. which have regrown after damage and developed smaller leaves, otherwise being in agreement with the type.

Notes on nomenclature.

Cytisus litwinowii V.I.Krecz. was described as a local endemic of the Central Russian Upland, confined to calcareous substrates ( Kreczetowicz 1940). This plant was originally distinguished because of its lesser developed pubescence and golden-yellow flowers, which are smaller than in C. blockii V.I.Krecz. (= C. kerneri Błocki). Another reason to distinguish this plant as a separate taxon was its confinement to the area of presumably relic pine forests and shrublands of the steppe area of Central European Russia, which reportedly harboured endemic taxa of Tertiary age ( Kozo-Polansky 1931). However, this area of endemism has been confuted by other researchers, who considered its age being early postglacial and its relics being taxonomically indistinct ( Grosset 1964). Among the presumed endemics of this territory, Daphne julia K.-Pol. turned out to be a synonym of D. cneorum L. ( Grosset 1964) and Tanacetum alaunicum K.-Pol. was synonymised with Chrysanthemum zawadskii Herbich ( Tzvelev 1994), whereas Cotoneaster alaunicus Golitsin appeared to be a synonym of C. integerrimus Medik. ( Sennikov 2011).

Further authors ( Heywood and Frodin 1968; Tzvelev 1987) accepted C. litwinowii and distinguished it from C. austriacus , which also occurs in Central European Russia, by its leaflets glabrous or very poorly (sparsely) pubescent above (vs. densely appressed-hairy in C. austriacus ). Following these authorities, C. litwinowii was accepted in major compilations ( Yakovlev et al. 1996; Govaerts et al. 2021).

We examined the holotype of C. litwinowii at LE and realised that the leaflets of this plant, which had grown in the shade, are regularly pubescent above, but the hairs are poorly recognisable due to overpressing. As pubescence of leaflets was the main diagnostic characters for C. litwinowii and no other material of the taxon is known, but the holotype, we reduce it to a synonym of C. austriacus . The placement of C. litwinowii in the synonymy of C. blockianus Pawł. ( Cristofolini 1991), which was accepted by some databases ( Roskov et al. 2006), cannot stand because the latter species does not occur east of the Carpathians ( Tzvelev 1987). Besides, the bright flower colour of C. litwinowii agrees particularly with the characters of C. austriacus , rather than the pale flower colour of C. blockianus ( Tzvelev 1987).

Pifkó and Barina (2016) described C. pseudojankae Pifkó & Barina as a strongly branching plant with undeveloped axillar shoots, small, narrowly lanceolate leaflets and laxly appressed pubescence, which they compared with the C. austriacus aggr., but placed in the C. eriocarpus aggr. Such plants were considered endemic to a restricted area near Lake Prespa at the borders of Albania, North Macedonia and Greece ( Pifkó and Barina 2016; Bergmeier et al. 2020). According to the description and drawing of C. pseudojankae in Pifkó and Barina (2016), this taxon is very similar to C. austriacus in its strong and upright stems (vs. weak and ascending stems in C. eriocarpus s.l.), habit and narrowly lanceolate leaf shape.

The original material of C. pseudojankae ( Pifkó and Barina 2016) consists of plants superficially looking like having lateral flowers; however, these plants are typical members of the C. austriacus group with capitate inflorescences, and the seemingly lateral flowers observed in C. pseudojankae are a result of its abundant branching, with the uppermost branches, much abbreviated, going to flower and thereby forming a pseudolateral inflorescence. Their leaves are similar to those of the plants treated as C. austriacus subsp. microphyllus by Cristofolini (1991).

Figures

Figure 5. Holotype of Cytisus litwinowii V. I. Krecz.