Centaurea amanicola Huber-Morath (1967: 332)

Negaresh, Kazem & Rahiminejad, Mohammad Reza, 2018, A revision of Centaurea sect. Cynaroides (Asteraceae, Cardueae-Centaureinae), Phytotaxa 363 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

4. Centaurea amanicola Huber-Morath (1967: 332) . Type:— TURKEY. [ C6 Adana], Amanus-Gebirge, Prov. Seyhan: Distr. Osmaniye, Yağlipinar Dağ südlich ob Yarpuz , Pinus pallasiana - Wald , 1210–1230 m, 1 July 1959, Huber-Morath 15888 (holotype G!, isotype Hb. Hub. - Mor.!). ( Fig. 13)

Biennial plants, with thick freshly taproot, whole plant usually green, 65–80 cm tall; collar of fibrous petiolar remains present at stem base. Stem erect, branched above, ca. 5 mm in diam. at base, cylindrical, with thick yellowish or greenish striations, evenly foliated throughout, lower part subglabrous to sparsely covered with hirsute-articulate hairs, others ± densely covered with grayish-tomentose hairs. Leaves coriaceous, papyraceous (on drying), undivided, basal and lower ones covered with hirsute-articulate hairs, denser along midrib and veins, others densely covered with tomentose hairs, entire or denticulate to repand-dentate. Basal leaves petiolate, oblong-cordate, acute at apex. Lower cauline leaves subsessile, narrowed toward base, oblong to broadly lanceolate, 18–20 × 7–9 cm, acute at apex. Median cauline leaves sessile, simple, oblong to broadly lanceolate, sometimes lanceolate, 9–12 × 4–6 cm, decurrent, up to 25 mm along stem, acute at apex. Upper cauline leaves increasingly smaller, sessile, narrowly lanceolate, 2–6 × 0.5–2 cm, narrowly decurrent, entire, elongate into a mucro at apex (up to 5 mm long), usually surrounding the capitula. Capitula several, 2 to 8, arranged in a raceme, subsessile. Involucres ovoid to subglobose, truncate at base, 27–35 × 25–30 mm. Phyllaries multiseriate, green in vivo, yellow-brownish in sicco, imbricate, coriaceous-scarious, loosely tomentose. Appendages rigid, large, totally concealing phyllaries, narrowly decurrent, broadly triangular to orbicular, 6–8(–9) mm wide at base (excluding cilia), dark brown to blackish, outer ones pale brown; cilia erect, white to brown, numerous, 12–16(–20) on each side, 3–6 mm long; spines narrowly triangular, rigid, 5–8 mm long, slightly longer than adjacent cilia. Outer appendages 7–12 × 10–14 mm (including cilia and spine); median appendages 10–12(–14) × 13–17 mm (including cilia and spine); inner appendages ciliate (not lacerate), smaller than others. Flowers purple; central florets hermaphroditic, 32–35 mm long, corolla 14–15 mm long, 5-lobed, lobes 6–7 mm long; peripheral florets sterile, equal with central ones, numerous (15–20 in each capitulum) and conspicuous, finely dissected, not radiant, 4-lobed, limb lobes linear, 8–9 mm long. Achenes oblong, 5.5–6 mm long, rounded at apex. Pappus persistent, multiseriate, scabrous, whitish or brownish, less twice as long as achenes, 8–9 mm long.

Taxonomic and distribution remarks: — Centaurea amanicola is a rare endemic to Osmaniye Province, S Turkey ( Fig. 14 ). It is an Irano-Turanian element, and grows on Pinus forest and rocky slopes, at elevations of 900– 1350 m. This species is little known but related to C. cataonica in shape and size of involucres, color of appendages and flowers. However, C. amanicola differs from it by its height being 65–80 cm (vs. 30–50 cm), lower cauline leaves 18–20 cm long, subsessile, narrowed toward base, undivided, oblong to broadly lanceolate (vs. 9–15 cm long, with short petiole, lyrate, terminal segment oblong or oblong-ovate), outer appendages 7–12 × 10–14 mm (vs. 6–8 × 8–10 mm), median appendages 10–12(–14) mm (vs. 14–18 mm) long, achenes 5.5–6 mm (vs. ca. 5 mm) long, and also pappus whitish or brownish, 8–9 mm long (vs. brown to dark brown, ca. 7–7.5 mm long). Centaurea amanicola grows at elevations higher than those of C. cataonica .

This species is also somewhat similar to C. haradjianii by having dark brown to blackish appendages but easily distinguished from it by dense leaves throughout the stem and large appendages that are totally concealing the phyllaries.

Chromosome numbers: — Gardou & Tchehrehgocha (1975), Martin et al. (2006) and Aksoy et al. (2016) reported the same chromosome number 2 n = 2 x =18 for Centaurea amanicola .

Figures

FIGURE 14. Distribution of Centaurea amanicola (circles), C. arifolia (squares), and C. bavegehensis (triangles).