Senecio inops Boissier & Balansa, 1859

Calvo, Joel, Álvarez, Inés & Aedo, Carlos, 2015, Systematics of Senecio section Crociseris (Compositae, Senecioneae), Phytotaxa 211 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

20. Senecio inops Boissier & Balansa in Boissier (1859: 101). Jacobaea inops (Boissier & Balansa) Nordenstam in Greuter & Raab-Straube (2007: 181). TYPE: Turkey, Kayseri, Tomarza, Arslantaş, montis Aslan-Dach, à l'ESE du mont-Argée, [38º22'N 36º08'E], 5 Aug 1856, B. Balansa s.n. (lectotype, designated here, G-150311!).

Senecio inops subsp. karamanicus Hamzaoğlu & Budak in Hamzaoğlu, Budak & Aksoy (2009: 286). TYPE: Turkye, Karaman, Başyayla-Taşkent arası, 7–9 km, [36º48'N 32º35'E], 21 June 2006, E . Hamzaoğlu , Ü . Budak & A . Aksoy 2066 (holotype, BOZOK not seen; isotypes, ANK not seen, BOZOK not seen, Erciyes Hb. not seen, GAZI image!, HUB image!, MA!) .

Perennial herb. Rhizome 3.0– 4.5 cm long, 0.7–1 cm in diam., ± horizontal, with swelled fastigiate roots. Stem 16–58 cm, erect, leaved, corrugated, solid, not ramificated, weakly arachnoid, base usually with remnants of old leaves and without tufts of hairs. Basal leaves 5–10.5 cm long, 0.8–2 cm wide, ± persistent, sometimes withering early, lanceolate to oblanceolate (ratio basal leaf width / basal leaf length = 0.12–0.24), acute, attenuate to cuneate, with a petiole 0.5–5 cm long, widely-spaced teeth (teeth 0.5–3 mm deep), ± arachnoid to covered with scattered trichomes, concolorous. Cauline leaves 4–9; middle cauline leaves 2.5–9.5 cm long, 0.2–1.3 cm wide, alternate, lanceolate to oblong (ratio middle leaf width / middle leaf length = 0.08–0.20), acute, sessile, sometimes attenuated into a petiole up to 2.3 cm long, widely-spaced teeth (teeth 0.3–2.5 mm deep), ± arachnoid to covered with scattered trichomes, tertiary venation inconspicuous; upper cauline leaves 0.9–4.4 cm long, 0.1–0.5 cm wide, linear to oblong (ratio upper leaf width / upper leaf length = 0.06–0.17), acute, sessile, subentire to slightly denticulate (denticles ca. 0.6 mm long), ± arachnoid to covered with scattered trichomes. Synflorescence 14.5–18 cm long, reduced to a solitary capitulum or corymbose, with scarce linear-oblong bracts. Capitula (1–)2–8(–27), 23.7–33 mm in diam.; involucre 11–19 mm in diam., 8.5–10 mm long, bell-shaped to obconical; involucral bracts 13–14, 6.4–9.4 mm long, 1.8–2.7 mm wide, with scarious margin 0.43–0.86 mm wide, ensiform, acute, 2–3- keeled, apex usually with a faint black spot, glabrescent, sometimes weakly arachnoid near the base; supplementary bracts 4–8, 3.5–8.5 mm long, 0.4–0.7 mm wide, subulate, without scarious margin, a half to three quarters as long as involucral bracts, glabrescent to weakly arachnoid, not imbricated. Ligulate florets 12–14, 12–18 mm long, yellow; tubular florets 6.3–8 mm long, 0.8–1.3 mm in diam., yellow. Achenes 1.5–2.5 mm long ( Hamzaoğlu et al. 2009), with trichomes covering the whole surface ca. 0.1 mm long; pappus ca. 6 mm long, whitish. Chromosome number: 2 n =80 ( Altınordu et al. 2014: 2208, sub S. inops subsp. inops ). Figure 26 .

Iconography: — Hamzaoğlu et al. (2009: 287, fig. 1).

Distribution and habitat: — Turkey (endemic of central Anatolia); rocky slopes, on calcareous soils; elevations of 1800–2250 m ( Figure 25 ).

Phenology: — Flowering from June to August.

Etymology: — The epithet inops means weak or helpless, probably referring to the modest size of plants in the type material. However, this species may reach larger size.

Discussion: — Senecio inops is a distinctive species characterized to bear small capitula with a low number of involucral and supplementary bracts. This species is so far known from few collections. It is apparently only recorded from Karaman and Kayseri, which are about 335 km away. It is variable with regard to the indumentum of the involucre. The populations from Kayseri are almost glabrous, while the populations from Karaman are floccose towards the base. On this basis, the latter were described as S. inops subsp. karamanicus . The remaining diagnostic characters discussed by Hamzaoğlu et al. (2009: 288) are not useful for taxonomic purposes because they are not stable: auriculate base of upper cauline leaves, number of capitula, length of involucral bracts, as well as the length of the supplementary bracts, ligulate flowers, style branches, and achenes. Both subspecies are known only from the type locality and surroundings, and no intermediate populations are recorded. It is necessary to find more populations to study the variability of the mentioned characters. For the time being, we include them within the variability of S. inops .

Senecio inops is morphologically similar to S. cilicius (see comments under this species).

It is worthwhile to mention that the length of the achenes provided by Hamzaoğlu et al. (2009) probably corresponds to immature achenes. Further material is needed for proper description.

Selected specimens examined. TURKEY. Karaman: Mittlerer Taurus, E . side of Oyuklu Dağ, c. 30 km N Ermenek , 36º51’N, 32º53’E, 24 July 1992, P . Hein 56 ( B) . Kayseri: Kayseri, Tomarza, Aslantaş over the village, Kizilgöl hill, 38º22’N, 36º8’E, 12 July 2008, B . Bani 6560 ( MA); Kayseri, Tomarza, Aslantaş village , Kurubel highland, 38º22’N, 36º8’E, 20 July 2006, E . Hamzaoğlu, Ü . Budak & A . Aksoy 4370 ( BOZOK) .

SYSTEMATICS OF SENECIO SECTION CROCISERIS

Figures

FIGURE 25. Distribution map for Senecio tauricola Matthews (○), S. cilicius Boissier (●), and S. inops Boissier & Balansa (▲).

FIGURE 26. A–J. Senecio cilicius Boissier—a. Habit (drawn from Bornmüller 1121, B).—b. Indumentum of a leaf (drawn from Furse 3797, G).—c. Capitulum (drawn from Furse 3797, G).—d. Involucral bract (drawn from Furse 3797, G).—e. Supplementary bract (drawn from Furse 3797, G).—f. Ligulate floret (drawn from Furse 3797, G).—g. Tubular floret (drawn from Furse 3797, G).—h. Stamens (drawn from Furse 3797, G).—i. Achene (drawn from Kotschy 399, US).—j. Indumentum of achene (drawn from Kotschy 399, US). K–N. Senecio inops Boissier & Balansa—k. Capitulum (drawn from Bani 6560, MA).—l. Basal leaf (drawn from Bani 6560, MA).—m. Involucral bract (drawn from Budak 2066, MA).—n. Supplementary bract (drawn from Budak 2066, MA).