Taraxacum badzhalense Woroschilov & Schlotgauer (1986: 115)

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 : 74

28. Taraxacum badzhalense Woroschilov & Schlotgauer (1986: 115)

Type:—[ RUSSIA, The Far East] Khabarovskii Krai , khrebet Badzhal, istoki r. Badzhal, nival’nye syrye lugoviny [Badzhal Range, sources of Badzhal River, patches of humid nival meadows], 1700–1800 m, 23 Jul 1984, S. D. Schlotgauer 10444 ( MHA 33879 , photo!, holotype) .

Etymology:—Named after the Badzhal Range [БадЖальский хребет] in the Khabarovsk Region, the Far East.

Plants relatively small, usually to 10 (–12) cm tall. Petiole winged distally, subabruptly narrowed in a very narrow proximal part (probably embedded in the soil), usually purplish along mid-vein, tunic absent. Leaves ± greyish deep green, narrowly oblanceolate in outline, ca. 6–9 × 1.5–2.0 cm, pinnatilobed to pinnatifid, with 3–4 pairs of ± patent to subrecurved, deltoid-triangular, acute, usually entire, sometimes sparsely denticulate (mainly in proximal lobes) lateral segments; terminal segment triangular to trilobed, distal lobe ± elongated, acute, entire, basal lobules ± patent to patent-hamate, acute; interlobes broad, usually 5–8 mm wide, often with raised margins and a few little teeth in inner leaves; mid-vein usually purplish. Scapes brownish green, usually suffused purplish, ± arachnoid, overtopping leaves. Capitulum yellow, ca. 3.5 cm wide. Involucre blackish olivaceous-green, ca. 7–8 mm wide and narrowly rounded at base. Outer phyllaries ca. 9–12, not imbricate, loosely appressed, linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, ca. 6–7 × 1.8–2.3 mm, black green to almost black, with a whitish border ca. 0.3–0.4 mm wide (sometimes border not visible), apex corniculate or with ± thick horns; inner phyllaries ca. 15–16 mm long, black-green, corniculate, probably not coalescing. Outer ligules ± flat, narrow, faintly striped grey outside, teeth deep grey, inner ligule teeth light grey. Stigmas dark discoloured. Pollen probably present. Achenes (immature) light greyish stramineous, ca. 4.5–5 mm long, spinulose in upper 1/3–1/4, subgradually narrowing in a short, ± conical cone ca. 0.5 mm long; beak thin, ca. 8 mm or longer, pappus ± white, ca. 6 mm long. – Fig. 47 .

Diagnostic notes:—The rather scanty and incomplete material does not make it possible to characterize this species properly. The combination of narrow, loosely appressed, blackish, bordered and horned outer phyllaries, dark discoloured stigmas, and a short, conical cone is diagnostic. The sectional position of T. badzhalense is based on the leaf shape with patent, deltoid-triangular lateral segments, the winged petiole, achenes with a short, conical cone, and horned, or at least distinctly corniculate, outer phyllaries.

Distribution:—Known from a single locality in the Badzhal Range, west of the Amur River valley, Khabarovsk Region. It probably is the southernmost locality of T. sect. Borealia in Asiatic Russia, perhaps with the exception of sites in Kosh-Agach District in the Altai Republic.

Figures

FIGURE 47. Taraxacum badzhalense. A cutout of an image of the holotype (MHA 33879). Scale bar = 2 cm.