Centaurea regia Boissier (1845: 135)
|
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.363.1.1 |
|
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03E887F4-DF45-FF95-19D4-3A74F531F943 |
|
treatment provided by |
Felipe |
|
scientific name |
Centaurea regia Boissier (1845: 135) |
| status |
|
28. Centaurea regia Boissier (1845: 135) View in CoL . Cynaroides regia (Boiss.) Dostál (1973: 77) . Type:— SYRIA. Assyria: in deserto ad Tigridem, 25 June 1841, Kotschy 371 (holotype G!: three sheets comprising one specimen, isotypes BM!, K!: two sheets, N!, P!, W!: eight sheets).
Biennial plants, with thick fleshy taproot, whole plant usually green or pale green, 40–110 cm tall; collar of fibrous petiolar remains present at stem base. Stem erect, usually simple, robust, 10–18 mm in diam. at base, covered with arachnoid-tomentose hairs, finally glabrescent, sometimes lower part sparsely covered with hirsute-articulate hairs. Leaves rigid, papyraceous (on drying), covered with hirsute-articulate hairs, denser along midrib and veins. Basal leaves large, with a long petiole, ovate-subcordate or rarely lyrate, 18–27 × 8–14 cm long, entire at margin, acute at apex. Lower cauline leaves broadly lanceolate, ca. 20 × 10–12 cm, sometimes narrowed toward base or broadly decurrent along petiole, undivided or basally pinnatilobed, acute at apex. Median cauline leaves sessile, entire, broadly lanceolate or oblong, up to 20 × 7(–10) cm, broadly decurrent, acute or acuminate at apex. Upper cauline leaves increasingly smaller, sessile, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, narrowly decurrent, acuminate at apex. Capitula numerous, arranged in a raceme, upper peduncles 10–15 cm long, sometimes with bracts similar to phyllaries with small stramineous and chaffy appendages. Involucres subglobose or globose, 40–55 × 40–60 mm. Phyllaries multiseriate, coriaceous-scarious, imbricate, green in vivo, green-yellowish in sicco, glabrous. Appendages large, totally concealing phyllaries, ovate or broadly triangular, white or creamish ( “var. regia ”), brown ( “var. cynarocephala ”), or purple ( “var. purpurea ”), chartaceous, sometimes narrowly decurrent; cilia numerous, 10–17 on each side, (3–)4–6(–10) mm long; spine (3–)4–14(–25) mm long, equal to or strongly longer than nearest cilia. Outer phyllaries oblong or rectangular, 2–5 × 4–8 mm, appendages 10–18 × 11–21 mm (including cilia and spine). Median phyllaries rectangular or oblong, 11–20 × 9–11 mm, appendages ca. 20–25 × 20–25 mm (including cilia and spine). Inner phyllaries lanceolate to lanceolate-linear, (17–)25–30 × 5–10 mm, appendages (6–)10–15 × 5–10(–17) mm (including cilia and spine). Flowers pink, sometimes pale pink, sometimes purple in sicco; central florets hermaphroditic, ca. 45 mm long, with 5 equal lobes, ca. 9 mm long; peripheral florets sterile, nearly equal to central ones, numerous (ca. 20 on each capitulum or more) and conspicuous, finely dissected, not radiant, limb lobes filiform. Achenes oblong, 6–7.5 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, white and shiny, or brown, glabrous; insertion areole lateral, 1–1.2 mm long, glabrous. Pappus double, persistent, multiseriate, scabrous, whitish, purplish or brownish, 10–13(–15) mm long, bristles of inner rows much shorter than others, 2–5 mm long, of narrow scales.
Taxonomic and distribution remarks: —According to Wagenitz (1975), Ranjbar et al (2013) and Ranjbar & Negaresh (2014b), C. regia has a narrow distribution, but our expeditions and visits to different herbaria showed that this species is expands to W Iran and also SE Turkey, Syria and Iraq ( Figs. 58 View FIGURE 58 , 59 View FIGURE 59 , and 60). Therefore, its distribution is wider in comparison to the other species of C. sect. Cynaroides ( Figs. 58 View FIGURE 58 , 59 View FIGURE 59 , and 60). It is an Irano-Turanian element and represented by four varieties, which known only in fallow fields and along roadsides. They can be expected to grow on rocky slopes, limestone cliffs, champ road, along rivers, on dry hills and dry grassy open hillsides, calcareous stony, lower slopes of the mountains, at elevations of 700–1550 m ( Figs. 3B View FIGURE 3 , 62B, 62C View FIGURE 62 , 64A View FIGURE 64 , 65B, 65C View FIGURE 65 , and 66C View FIGURE 66 ). Centaurea regia shows close relationships with C. imperialis .
Wagenitz (1980, 2006), recognized two subspecies in Centaurea regia , namely: subsp. regia and subsp. cynarocephala . According to him, subsp. cynarocephala differs from the former by having median and inner phyllaries brown (vs. whitish) and terminal spine of median appendages (3–) 4–8 mm (vs. (8–) 9–14 mm) long. Our collections showed that there are specimens with brown appendages that have a spine longer than 8 mm (as in Negaresh & Kamalnejad 113). In view of the considerable variability of the spine length in C. regia , and the occurrence of intermediates between these two subspecies, we thought that it would be meaningless to maintain the two entities as separate subspecies. Also, it seems that only colour of appendages can be used for distinguishing these taxa. The varietal status was chosen because there is no geographical or ecological differentiation and there are intermediate populations between these taxa (see Fig. 3B View FIGURE 3 ). So, we reduced them to the level of variety and also described two new varities. Finally, C. regia can be considered as a single variable species with four varieties.
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.