Cytisus pygmaeus Willd., Sp. Pl., ed. 4, 3(2): 1127 (1802)

Sennikov, Alexander N. & Tikhomirov, Valery N., 2024, Atlas Florae Europaeae notes, 35. Further critical notes on Cytisus sect. Tubocytisus (Fabaceae) in Europe, PhytoKeys 238, pp. 199-230 : 199

8. Cytisus pygmaeus Willd., Sp. Pl., ed. 4, 3(2): 1127 (1802)

- Chamaecytisus pygmaeus (Willd.) Rothm. in Feddes Repert. 53: 144 (1944) - Chamaecytisus austriacus subsp. pygmaeus (Willd.) Ponert in Feddes Repert. 83: 619 (1973).

= Cytisus tmoleus Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient., ser. 1, 2: 11. 1843, syn. nov. - Cytisus eriocarpus subsp. tmoleus (Boiss.) Cristof. in Webbia 45(2): 207 (1991) - Chamaecytisus tmoleus (Boiss.) Rothm. in Feddes Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 53: 144 (1944). Type. Turkey. "Asia Minor", P. Aucher-Éloy 1101 (syntypes K 000829770, P 02952916, 02952919).

= Cytisus chrysotrichus Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient., ser. 1, 2: 12 (1843). Type. Turkey. Bursa Province: "In dumosis Olympi Bithyniae" [= Uludağ Mt.], 06.1842, E. Boissier (syntypes K 000829766, 000829767, LE 01207296-01207299, NY 1843152).

= Cytisus thirkeanus K.Koch in Linnaea 19(1): 61 (1846). Type. Turkey. Trabzon Province: "Asia minor. Litus australis Pontus Euxini", [1843], Thirke (lectotype LE 00013761, designated here; isolectotypes LE 00013760, G-Boiss 00365031). Fig. 12 .

Type.

Turkey. [Galatia], D. Sestini (lectotype B-Willd 13632-010, designated by Pifkó and Barina (2016: 172); isolectotype HAL 0100154) .

Distribution.

European and Asiatic Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece ( Kuzmanov 1976; Cristofolini 1991; Assyov and Petrova 2012), Romania (Fig. 13 ). Other European records, from North Macedonia and Serbia ( Diklić 1972; Micevski 2001), seem to belong mostly to C. jankae or C. calcareus . A record of C. jankae from Romania ( Grinţescu 1957) is treated as belonging to C. pygmaeus here.

Notes on taxonomy.

The leaves of this species may vary slightly from oblong-lanceolate to oblanceolate. Plants with the leaves looking more lanceolate were described as C. pygmaeus and C. chrysotrichus , whereas plants with rather oblanceolate leaves were named C. tmoleus and C. thirkeanus . This difference, albeit very subtle, led Cristofolini (1991) to classify C. pygmaeus as a subspecies of C. austriacus , whereas he placed the plants described as C. tmoleus to C. eriocarpus . Having examined some material from Asiatic Turkey, we observed both types of leaves in the same plants; this makes the distinction practically impossible.

The pubescence on calyces of C. pygmaeus is variable, ranging from semi-patent to subappressed. The type collection of C. pygmaeus has clearly semi-patent hairs.

Niketić (2021) provisionally accepted the occurrence of C. pygmaeus in Serbia, although the relevant materials have not been examined. Micevski (2001) listed it among doubtful records in North Macedonia. The collections identified as C. pygmaeus which we examined from the Balkans belong to C. jankae , and we assume that the distribution of C. pygmaeus in Europe may be much more limited than it is currently believed.

Notes on nomenclature.

Willdenow (1802) described the species without mentioning floral characters. His indication of “Galatia” in the protologue corresponds to the fruiting specimen of D. Sestini in Willdenow’s personal collection. A duplicate of this collection was separated to HAL, which allowed Pifkó and Barina (2016) to designate a lectotype at B.

The synonymy above was established already by Boissier (1872), except for the placement of C. tmoleus , which he considered to differ in a denser, sericeous indumentum of the plant. According to our observations, the density of indumentum in C. pygmaeus may look variable, depending on ecological conditions, and the plants described as C. tmoleus can be regarded as an extreme variant.

Figures

Figure 12. Lectotype of Cytisus thirkeanus K. Koch.

Figure 13. Distribution of Cytisus pygmaeus Willd.