Taraxacum anadyricum Tzvelev

Kirschner, Jan, Štěpánek, Jan & Buryy, Vladimir V., 2025, Towards a revision of Taraxacum sect. Borealia (Compositae, Crepidinae) in Siberia and the continental Far East, with special reference to the dandelions of the Altai and Kamchatka, Phytotaxa 679 (1), pp. 1-147 : 35

9. Taraxacum anadyricum Tzvelev in Tzvelev & Yurtzev (1984: 191)

Type:—[ RUSSIA, Chukotka] In fluxu superiore fl. Anadyrj, montes Berezovskienses , ripa dextra fl. Kavraljanska infra ostium rivuli Berezovyj , in declivitate schistosa, 20 Jul 1982, V. Yu. Razzhivin ( LE, no. det. 6136, holotype) .

Etymology:—Anadyr, a town in the Anadyr Bay, Chukotka, or a river of the same name.

Plants relatively small, 6–15 cm, later up to 15 cm tall. Petiole purplish, narrowly winged, ± glabrous. Leaves ± mid-green, glabrous, narrowly oblanceolate, usually 3–6 × 0.8–1.3 cm, undivided, usually with 2–3 pairs of patent acute teeth or lobules, terminal part elongated, acute, mid-vein purplish. Scapes brownish green, suffused purplish, glabrous or distally with scattered arachnoid hairs, overtopping leaves, Capitulum white, ca. 2.5 cm wide. Involucre olivaceous-green, ca. 8 mm wide and narrowly rounded at base. Outer phyllaries probably 10–13, ± appressed, ± imbricate, narrowly ovate, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, ca. 4.5–6.0 × 2.0– 2.5 mm, surface deep olivaceous-green or dark so, often with a blackish middle line, border distinct, whitish-green, apex conspicuously corniculate, horns black-purple; inner phyllaries 10–14 mm long, corniculate. Outer ligules ± flat, faintly striped greyish pink or almost unstriped, ligule teeth deep grey, inner ligule teeth light greyish white. Stigmas discoloured, relatively dark. Pollen present, probably irregular in size. Ripe achenes ± grey-olivaceous, (4.3–) 4.7–4.9 × (1.1–) 1.3–1.5 mm, body densely and coarsely spinulose in upper 1/3–1/5, abruptly narrowing into a thick cylindrical cone (0.7–) 0.9–1.0 mm long, usually 0.5 mm thick at base, ca. 0.4 mm distally (or ca. 0.45 mm throughout); beak thin, ca. 9 mm long, pappus ± white, ca. 6.0– 6.5 mm long. – Fig. 17 , 18 .

Diagnostic notes:— Taraxacum anadyricum is characterized by a relatively low growth, shallowly lobed leaves with distinct colours, and particularly by whitish flowers with dark stigmas, and deep grey-olivaceous achenes. Outer phyllaries of the holotype plants bear relatively large thick horns; these are almost missing from the paratype.

Distribution:—Known from two sites along the upper stream of the Anadyr River in Chukotka.

Specimens examined:—[ RUSSIA, Chukotka] Upper Anadyr River, near the mouth of the Olenevoi Creek , 23 Jul 1982, V. Yu. Razzhivin ( LE, no. det. 6053, paratype) .

Figures

FIGURE 17. Taraxacum anadyricum. A, a detail of flower head (LE, no. det. 6053, paratype); B, achenes (LE, no. det. 6136, holotype).

FIGURE 18. Taraxacum anadyricum. General habit (LE, no. det. 6053).