Taraxacum sinotianschanicum Tzvelev (1987: 220)

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 : 249

13. Taraxacum sinotianschanicum Tzvelev (1987: 220) .

Type: — CHINA. Xinjiang: Malyy Yuldus v Khomote, na severnom sklone [the Baga-Yuldus in Khomote District], 3440 m, 9 Aug 1958, Li & Czu 7172 ( LE!, holotype).

Description: —Plants 5–12 cm tall. Petiole pale green, ± unwinged; leaf blade probably mid-green, oblanceolate, 6–8 × 1.5–2 cm, glabrous, pinnatilobed, midvein pale green; lateral lobes 2 or 3 pairs, triangular to deltoid, to 1 cm, usually patent, margin usually entire; interlobes short, broad, margin ± entire; terminal lobe triangular. Scapes brownish green, ± equaling leaves, glabrous. Capitulum 2–3 cm wide. Involucre 8–11 mm wide, base rounded. Outer phyllaries 11–14, almost black, ± imbricate, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, outermost ones 5–7 × 2.5–4 mm and ca. 1/2 as long as inner ones, ± appressed to suberect, unbordered, margin ± glabrous, flat below apex; inner phyllaries 1.3–1.7 cm, flat below apex. Ligules yellow, probably subtubular; outer ligules outside striped greyish pink; inner ligules with purple to blackish teeth. Stigmas blackish green. Anthers polliniferous. Achene greyish stramineous-colored brown, 4.5–5.2 × 0.9–1 mm; body ± smooth or apically very sparsely minutely tuberculate, very indistinctly and gradually narrowing into a broadly conic 0.6–0.9 mm long cone, or cone not discernible at all; beak 4–5 mm, thick. Pappus ± white, 6–7 mm. Fl. summer.—Probably agamospermous.— Fig. 15E, F .

Taxonomic notes: — Taraxacum sinotianschanicum is based on a single specimen and all the conclusions are therefore made on a rather scanty material. According to the achene characters, it belongs to T. sect. Atrata but deviates from the most common pattern of this section in that outer phyllaries point to T. sect. Arctica Dahlst. (ovate, unbordered, imbricate). We consider T. sinotianschanicum as a marginal species of the former section. It is known to occur in the Chinese Tian-Shan, W Xinjiang ( Fig. 23 ).

Figures

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).