Taraxacum subglaciale Schischkin (1964: 743)

Kirschner, Jan & Štěpánek, Jan, 2017, A revision of Taraxacum sect. Atrata, a dandelion group centred in the Middle Asia, and the problem of Taraxacum brevirostre, Phytotaxa 305 (4), pp. 225-261 : 245-246

9. Taraxacum subglaciale Schischkin (1964: 743) .

Type: — KAZAKHSTAN. Dzhungarskiy Alatau, bass. r. Koksu, vodorazdel r. r. Arasan u verkhoviy Tenteksaya, melozemistye sklony vblizi skal [the Dzhungar Alatau, Koksu River basin, water divide of rivers Arasan and Tenteksay, shallow soil slopes near rocks], 3300 m, 14 Aug 1948, V. Goloskokov ( LE, no. det. 7955, holotype).

Description: —Plants 4–8 cm tall. Petiole purplish, unwinged; leaf blade mid-green, ± linear, 4–6 × 0.5–0.8 cm, glabrous, usually with a few lobules or pinnatisect but sometimes undivided; lateral lobes 1 or 2 pairs, linear-triangular to linear, usually ± recurved, margin entire; interlobes narrow, margin entire; terminal lobe linear, elongated-lingulate, basal segments ± linear and subrecurved. Scapes brownish green, overtopping leaves, glabrous. Capitulum ca. 1.5 cm wide. Involucre 5–6 mm wide, base subobconic. Outer phyllaries 8–10, middle part deep greyish green with a very gradual transition into paler border, not imbricate, ± narrowly lanceolate, outermost ones 4.5–5 × ca. 1.5 mm and ca. 1/3 as long as inner ones, ± appressed to loosely appressed, border narrow, paler greyish green to whitish, and 0.2–0.3 mm wide, margin glabrous, flat below apex; inner phyllaries 1–1.2 cm, ± flat to blackish callose below apex. Ligules yellow. Stigmas yellowish green. Anthers polliniferous; pollen grains irregular in size. Achene greyish stramineous-colored brown, 3.9–4.1 × ca. 0.9 mm; body ± smooth or apically with a few almost invisible tubercles, cone not discernible or ± broadly conic and 0.6–0.8 mm long; beak 4–4.5 mm, ± thick. Pappus ± white, ca. 5 mm.— Agamospermous.— Fig. 11L , 15C .

Distribution: —It grows on alpine slopes, on moist shallow soils. Known from the Dzhungar Alatau in Kazakhstan ( Fig. 23 ). It most probably also occurs in the W. Xinjiang ( Zhai 1999).

Figures

FIGURE 11.Achenes of the members of T. sect. Atrata: G, T. sublilacinum (PRA, #111/2); H, T. orientali-atratum (PRA, no. det. 28210); I, T. pamiricum (PRA, no. det. 28213); J, T. pseudoatratum (LE, no.det. 7973); K, T. pseudolilacinum (PRA, #17); L, T. subglaciale (LE, no. det. 7955). Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 15. Selected herbarium specimen details.A, T. dzhungaricola; B, T. pseudoatratum; C, T. subglaciale; D, T. goloskokovii; E, F, T. sinotianschanicum. All specimens are preserved at LE.

FIGURE 23. Distribution ranges of T. alpigenum (square), T. roseolum (triangle), T. sinotianschanicum (circle), T. smirnovii (hexagon), and T. subglaciale (octagon).