Rhaponticoides sect. Iranicae (M. V. Agab.) Negaresh

Negaresh, Kazem, Khoshroo, Sayed Mohammad Reza, Karamian, Roya & Joharchi, Mohammad Reza, 2015, A revision of Rhaponticoides (Asteraceae, Cardueae-Centaureinae) from Iran, Phytotaxa 213 (2), pp. 87-101 : 89

I. Rhaponticoides sect. Iranicae (M. V. Agab.) Negaresh , comb. & stat. nov.

Basionym: Centaurea subgen. Centaurea sect. Centaurea subsect. Iranicae Agababian (1997: 897) . Type:— Centaurea lachnopus Rech. f.

Plants densely covered with white lanate pubescence at base, other parts glabrous. Leaves lyrate or pinnatisect, distinctly serrate. Involucres large, 20–40(–50) × 25–40(–50) mm, subglobose or ovoid-globose, sometimes oblong. Phyllaries broadly ovoid to suborbicular; appendages large, concealing the major part or the whole of phyllaries, orbicular, the innermost oblong, decurrent, margin slightly undulate, sometimes lacerate. Flowers yellow, peripheral flowers slightly radiant, staminodes indistinct. Achenes 8–10 mm long; pappus as long as achenes, 8–10(–13) mm long (except R. schmidii , pappus shorter than achenes).

Taxonomic and distributional remarks: —All members of Rhaponticoides sect. Iranicae belong to Irano-Turanian element. This section comprises six species.