Taraxacum sect. Orientalia Handel-Mazzetti (1923: 274)

Kirschner, Jan, Štěpánek, Jan & Zeisek, Vojtěch, 2017, Taraxacum sect. Orientalia (Compositae-Crepidinae) and the West Himalayan dandelions: A new interpretation, Phytotaxa 312 (1), pp. 1-27 : 6-7

Taraxacum sect. Orientalia Handel-Mazzetti (1923: 274) .

Type:— Taraxacum stevenii (Sprengel) Candolle (1838: 149) [≡ Leontodon stevenii Sprengel (1826: 658) ≡ Leontodon alpinus Steven (1813: 100) non Jacq. 1773], selected by Kirschner & Štěpánek (1997: 94).

Flowers and leaves develop simultaneously. Plants usually small, plant base subglabrous. Leaves usually glabrous, not swollen at hair base, usually undivided or shallowly lobed, midrib without striatulate pattern, blade unspotted, petioles usually narrowly winged or ± unwinged. Scapes erect during flowering, unbranched, growing from the centre of leaf rosette, glabrous or subglabrous. Involucre with sub-obconical or rounded base, usually of medium width (ca 7–10 mm wide). Inner phyllaries flat, without corniculation at the apex, rarely callose. Outer phyllaries 10–14, of ± equal length, appressed to erect, lanceolate to ovate, with narrow to broad, distinct, white or paler border, rarely border ± absent, glabrous or sparsely minutely ciliate. Flowers yellow, florets usually ± numerous, ligules flat. Pollen usually present, stigma discoloured (usually greenish to almost black in dry condition). Receptacle glabrous. Achenes 3.9–4.8 mm long, slender to medium thick, usually 0.8–1.0 mm wide, gradually and often indistinctly narrowing into the cone, achene body usually pale greyish straw brown, sparsely spinulose, spinules minute, cone subconical, with a broader base, thicker, usually 0.4–0.6 mm long. Rostrum thin, sometimes thickened, 1–8 mm long, not breaking off, pappus 4–6 mm long, white, not deciduous. Main flowering season: summer (in high mountains). Main habitat: subalpine and alpine meadows. Sexual or apomictic.

This description is based on the material of T. stevenii , a sexual (studied on the basis of plants from our Caucasus expeditions and from numerous herbarium collections), and three closely allied agamosperms, see the list below.

A list of members of Taraxacum sect. Orientalia Handel-Mazzetti

T. stevenii (Sprengel) Candolle

T. kurdicum Handel-Mazzetti in Nábělek

T. litvinovii Schischkin in Grossheim (1934: 250)

T. psychrophilum Boissier (1849: 48)

These four taxa are distributed from Inner Anatolia and NW. Anatolia to the Caucasus, the northernmost mountain Iraq and the western and central parts of the northern Iran.

However, Soest (1963, 1966a, b, 1977) referred to this section another eight names from the region of the West Himalaya. The analysis of his material shows that these plants are far beyond the morphological limits of T. sect.

Orientalia as set above (with the exception of T. crepidiforme , see Tab. 1). The following names were reported from West Himalaya as members of the latter section:

T. amblylepidocarpum Soest (1963: 12)

T. canum Soest in Rechinger (1977: 245)

T. crepidiforme Candolle (1838: 149)

T. baltistanicum Soest (1963: 14)

T. melleum Soest (1963: 14)

T. pubens Soest (1966a: 367)

Note.— Richards (1969) gave 2n=24 as the chromosome count for T. pubens . Later, Richards (1972) referred the count to his new species, T. nigricornis A. J. Richards , so that the count and species record are not relevant for our study.

T. stenolepium Handel-Mazzetti

T. tricolor Soest (1966b: 75)

T. wendelboanum Soest (1966b: 77)

Note.— Richards (1972) reported T. calciphilum A. J. Richards & Soest from Afghanistan as a member of T. sect. Orientalia . Kirschner & Štěpánek (1999) included this species name into the variable group of T. stenocephalum Boiss. It undoubtedly belongs to T. sect. Piesis but further study is needed as to its possible separate status. Another two names, T. hydrophilum Soest and T. pallidipapposum Soest , from Iran and Afghanistan were also mistakenly referred to T. sect. Orientalia ( Soest 1977).