Taraxacum altaicum Schischkin (1949: 6)

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 : 66-69

24. Taraxacum altaicum Schischkin (1949: 6)

Type:—[ RUSSIA] Altai, Oirotia, Koshagachskiy aimak, Kuraiskiy khrebet, ist. r. Kurai [the Altai, Kurai Range, sources of Kurai River], 21 Aug 1931, G. P. Sumnevich ( LE, no. det. 6138, holotype; isotypes: LE, no. det. 6055, LE, no. det 17102) .

Etymology:—The Altai, a border mountain range extending from the NE Kazakhstan along the Siberian-Mongolian border.

Plants medium-sized, often of subrobust appearance, usually up to 15 cm tall. Petiole narrow, unwinged, narrowly winged in outer leaves, pale greenish, usually sparsely arachnoid; plant base ± glabrous, tunic absent. Leaves subglabrous to glabrous, light medium green, undivided, oblanceolate to spathulate, with a relatively broad blade subabruptly narrowing into a long, relatively narrow petiole, usually 7–11 × 2.0– 3.5 cm, irregularly sparsely dentate, rarely remotely lobulate, apex obtusely acute; mid-vein pale greenish. Scapes brownish green, later sometimes suffused pale pink, arachnoid, later sparsely so, overtopping leaves, after flowering remaining ± erect. Capitulum yellow, ca. 3–4 cm wide. Involucre blackish green, not pruinose, ca. 8–9 mm wide and rounded at base. Outer phyllaries usually 12–16, ± imbricate, from loosely appressed and erect to erect-patent or patent, outer of them ovate, usually 5.5–6.5 × 3–3.5 mm, inner of them ± lanceolate, usually 7–9 × 2.0– 2.5 mm, surface evenly blackish green, border indistinct, almost invisible, membranous, ca. 0.2 mm wide, margin sparsely ciliate distally, apex corniculate to horned, horns 0.5–1.2 mm long; inner phyllaries 16–18 mm long, corniculate, not coalescing. Outer ligules ± flat, almost unstriped, often with 2–3 thin faintly greyish lines outside, outer ligule teeth light greyish-purplish, inner ligule teeth pinkish yellow. Stigmas dark discoloured, green inside, blackish outside. Pollen sparsely present, pollen grains irregular in size. Achenes pale reddish cinnamon to light pinkish cinnamon, 4.9–5.3 × 1.1–1.3 mm, body subsparsely to sparsely shortly spinulose and tuberculate in upper 1/4, gradually narrowing in a relatively thick subconical cone 0.9–1.1 mm long, usually 0.5–0.8 mm thick at base, 0.4–0.6 mm distally; beak thickened, ca. 0.25 mm thick in the middle, ca. 0.30– 0.35 mm at both ends, (6–) 8–10 mm long, pappus yellowish white, (6–) 7 mm long. – Agamospermous. – Fig. 42 .

Diagnostic notes:—The comparison with T. sublateritium is given above; the two species are similar in many respects. Blackish, imbricate, almost unbordered outer phyllaries, almost unstriped outer ligules, pale pinkish-cinnamon achenes, the thickened beak and a thick subconical cone are important and diagnostic. Taraxacum altaicum occupies an intermediate position between T. sect. Arctica and T. sect. Borealia, closer to the latter.

Distribution and habitat:— Taraxacum altaicum is known from the Kurai Range in the Altai. During our Altai expedition, we collected it only once near Mt. Aktash in the Kurai Range, in an alpine vegetation below 3000 m.

Specimens examined:—[ RUSSIA, the Altai Republic] Usť-Ulagan District, the Kurai Range [Kuraiskiy Khrebet], slopes of Mt. Aktash , 2600–3050 m, 3–4 Jul 1988, J. Kirschner, cultivated as JŠ 3369 ( PRA, no. det. 36873, 36875) .

Figures

FIGURE 42. Taraxacum altaicum. A, general habit of the holotype specimen; B, achenes (both LE 01082108, no. det. 6138).