Cephalaria sparsipilosa Matthews (1972: 596)

Ranjbar, Massoud & Ranjbar, Zahra, 2017, A taxonomic revision of Cephalaria subgen. Cephalaria sect. Atrocephalae (Caprifoliaceae) from Iran, Phytotaxa 311 (2), pp. 101-138 : 124-126

13. Cephalaria sparsipilosa Matthews (1972: 596) . Cephalaria pilosa Boissier & Huet in Boissier (1856: 122), nom. illeg., non Gren. & Godr. 1850. Type:— TURKEY. Prov. Erzeroum (uncultivated land around the city), 1800–1900 m, 39º 54 ʹ N, 41º 15 ʹ E, 1893 m, Huet du Pavillon s.n.

(K! [K000779007!], lectotype designated by Göktürk & Sümbül (2014: 958); isolectotype: G! [G00330572], K! [K000779008]).

Fig. 13 .

Perennial erect, slender stem up to 40 cm, mono- or three-cephalous, sparsely pilose below, glabrous above, thinly brown to dark green-striate. Leaves slightly coriaceous, opposite, grey-greenish when dried, pubescent to sparsely pilose, reticulate-veined, entire and involuted margins. Lower cauline leaves sessile; loosely pilose; pinnatisect, oblong in outline, 3–4 × 1–2 cm, acute to obtuse at apex, margins entire and involuted, with 2–4 lateral segments, lateral segments linear-lanceolate, 0.5–2 × 0.3–0.7 cm, terminal segment larger than lateral ones, linear or oblong, 1–2 × 0.5–1 cm, secondary and tertiary veins reticulate. Middle cauline leaves sessile; loosely pilose; pinnatisect; terminal segment larger than lateral ones, entire, pubescent to sparsely pilose, oblong in outline, 3–5 × 1–2 cm, acute to obtuse at apex, margins entire and involuted, with 2–6 lateral segments, lateral segments linear-lanceolate, 0.5–2 × 0.2–0.5 cm, terminal segment larger than lateral ones, linear or oblong, 1–3 × 0.5–1 cm, secondary and tertiary veins reticulate. Upper cauline leaves sessile; loosely pilose; pinnatisect, oblong to linear in outline, 1–2.5 × 1–2 cm, acute to obtuse at apex, margins entire and involuted, with 2–6 lateral segments, lateral segments linear-lanceolate, 0.5–1 × 0.3–0.5 cm, terminal segment larger than lateral ones, linear or oblong, 1–1.5 × 0.2–0.4 cm, secondary and tertiary veins reticulate. Capitula l–l.5 diam., subradiant. Involucral bracts ovate, obtuse; 4–5 × 3–4 mm, straw-light brownish and blackish at apex, loosely tomentose hairs up to 2 mm long, obtuse at apex. Receptacular bracts ovate-oblong to narrowly obovate, acute; puberulent, often pilose or sericeous dorsally at base, straw-coloured, blackish-tipped. Flowers creamy to pale yellow. Involucel 6–7 mm long, sparsely pilose, with 4 long and 4 short apical teeth.

Nomenclatural notes: — Boissier (1856) described a new species, Cephalaria pilosa , based on an unnumbered collection (syntype gathering) made by A. Huet du Pavillon in “ Armenia ”, around Erzeroum [present-day province Erzeroum of Turkey], in July of 1853. The original material of this species can be found at G-Boiss, G and K (G00330572, G00382556, G00382557, G00382558, K000779007, K000779008).

Cephalaria pilosa Boiss. & Huet is a later homonym of C. pilosa Grenier & Godron (1850: 69) from France. Mattews (1972) published a replacement name, C. sparsipilosa . He redescribed it based on isotype specimen in K and he did not see G specimens ( Matthews 1972). Göktürk & Sümbül (2014) examined only K specimens and designated one of them (K000779007) as the lectotype of C. sparsipilosa in January 2014.

Additional specimens examined:— IRAN: Prov. Azerbijan-e Sharqi [East Azerbaijan], Sahand mountain, Esparkhan, 1800 m, Parsa s.n. ( THE [ Herbarium of Pharmacy Faculty of Tehran University]) . TURKEY. B8 ERZURUM: Palandoken Mts. , 23 July 1964, S.Güven s.n. ( ISTE) ; VAN: Edremit, Van lake, 1947, C. Koss s.n. ( ISTE) .

Taxonomic notes: — Cephalaria sparsipilosa is similar to C. microcephala in flower, shape and colour of involucral and receptacular bracts, but differs from C. microcephala in height, branched stem glabrous in upper part and size, shape and indumentum of leaves.

Distribution and habitat:— Cephalaria sparsipilosa is an Irano-Turanian element distributed in Turkey (East Anatolia) and NW Iran (East Azerbaijan, Sahand Mt.). It occurs in rocky places and mountainous forest area at elevations of 1800–3050 m.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Isolectotype of Cephalaria sparsipilosa Matthews (Huet du Pavillon s.n., G-Boiss! [G00330572]).