Ligularia fischeri (Ledebour) Turczaninow (1837: 11)

Wang, Long, Ren, Chen & Yang, Qin-Er, 2017, The identity of Ligularia chekiangensis (Asteraceae, Senecioneae), Phytotaxa 317 (2), pp. 149-151 : 151

Ligularia fischeri (Ledebour) Turczaninow (1837: 11) . Cineraria fischeri Ledebour (1820: 170) . Figs. 1 , 2 .

Type:— RUSSIA. Eastern Siberia. No original preserved ( Pojarkova 1961).

= Ligularia chekiangensis Kitamura (1947: 53) , syn. nov.

Type:— CHINA. Zhejiang: Lin’an, Hsi-tienmu-shan (= West Tianmu Shan), 27 July 1936, H. Migo 185 (holotype KYO!, isotype NAS!). Fig. 1 .

For full synonymy and description of Ligularia fischeri see Illarionova (2006) and Liu & Illarionova (2011).

Notes:—According to Liu (1989) and Liu & Illarionova (2011), Ligularia fischeri is very widely distributed in Bhutan, China (Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Zhejiang), India, Japan, Kashmir, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Russia (Far East, eastern Siberia). It is highly variable with respect to the size of plants, width of bracts, and size and shape of phyllaries, and their variation seem to correlate with geographical ranges of populations ( Liu 1989). In fact, the concept of L. fischeri has been a controversial matter ( Koyama 1968, Lauener 1976, Kitamura 1982, Liu 1989). Illarionova in Liu & Illarionova (2011) noted that L. fischeri , in her opinion, is distributed only in northeastern China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol), Mongolia, and Russia (Far East, eastern Siberia) and that L. splendens (Léveillé & Vaniot in Léveillé 1910: 139) Nakai (1944: 141), which differs in having ovate leaf-like bracts around the whole synflorescence and glabrous phyllaries, should be treated as a distinct species. If this treatment is adopted, L. chekiangensis should be placed in synonymy with L. splendens . In this paper, we follow Liu & Illarionova (2011) to accept L. fischeri as a widespread and polymorphic species, and reduce L. chekiangensis to its synonymy.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Holotype (A) and isotype (B) sheets of Ligularia chekiangensis (= L. fischeri).

FIGURE 2. Specimens of Ligularia fischeri. A. China, Zhejiang, Lin’an, West Tianmu Shan, P.C. Tsoong 3933 (PE). B. Same locality, P.C. Tsoong 3933 (WUK). C. Same locality, K.K. Tsoong 582 (NAS). D. Same locality, K.K. Tsoong 582 (PE).