Caucasoseris abietina (Boiss. & Balansa) M. Güzel, N. Kilian, Sennikov & Coşkunç. 2022

Güzel, Murat Erdem, Kilian, Norbert, Sennikov, Alexander N., Coşkunçelebi, Kamil, Makbul, Serdar & Gültepe, Mutlu, 2022, Caucasoseris, a new genus of subtribe Chondrillinae (Asteraceae: Cichorieae) for the enigmatic Prenanthes abietina, Willdenowia 52 (1), pp. 103-115 : 111-112

Caucasoseris abietina (Boiss. & Balansa) M. Güzel, N. Kilian, Sennikov & Coşkunç. , comb. nov.

≡ Mulgedium abietinum Boiss. & Balansa in Boissier, Fl. Orient. 3: 802. 1875

≡ Lactuca abietina (Boiss. & Balansa) Bornm. in Mitt. Thüring. Bot. Vereins 20: 29. 1904 –1905

≡ Crepis abietina (Boiss. & Balansa) Beauverd in Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève 2: 115. 1910

≡ Cicerbita abietina (Boiss. & Balansa) Grossh., Fl. Kavk. 4: 252. 1934

≡ Prenanthes abietina (Boiss. & Balansa) Kirp. in Komarov, Fl. URSS 29: 270. 1964.

– Lectotype (designated here): [ Turkey, prov. Rize,], forêts d’ Abies orientalis [actually Picea orientalis ] situeés au-dessus de Khabakhor (Lazistan) [= Kabahor = Kabakçur; current name: Gölyayla], vers 2200 metr. d’alt., 3 Sep 1866, B. Balansa, Plantes d’Orient s.n. ( G-BOIS: G00781484 ; isolectotypes: GOET001920 , K000815062 ). – Fig. 6 .

Description — Perennial herb with thick rhizome. Stem 100–190 cm high, erect, leafy, striate, unbranched or rarely branched from base, glabrous or subglabrous with eglandular hairs. Leaves sparsely covered with setulose hairs at veins, margin sinuate, apex more or less acuminate, base cordate-hastate; lower cauline leaves ovate-cordate in outline, rarely 2–5-lobed, 11.5–23 × 6–11 cm; petiole 3.5–10 cm long, semiamplexicaul at base; middle cauline leaves similar to others in shape, 4–15 × 3–9 cm; petiole 1–4.5 cm long, slightly expanded at base. Synflorescence corymbiform or paniculiform-corymbiform with fewer than 50 heads, peduncles glabrous. Capitula with 37–41 florets, ovoid-campanulate, 17–20 mm long in flower, 12–14 mm long in fruit; peduncle 2–5 cm long. Phyllaries c. 30 in 3 or 4 series, dark to blackish green; outer phyllaries less than 1/4 as long as inner phyllaries, ovate-lanceolate, acute, subglabrous with inconspicuous simple blackish hairs; inner phyllaries c. 10, slightly prolonged at fruiting, lanceolate, acute, subglabrous with inconspicuous simple blackish hairs. Florets bright to pale yellow, corolla tube 3.4–3.6 mm long, hairy in upper part; ligule 12.6–13.6 × c. 2 mm; anther tube brownish, c. 3.7 mm long; fertile part 2.8–3.2 mm long, apical appendages 0.3–0.5 mm long, basal appendages c. 0.3 mm long. Style 8.7–10 mm long; branches 1.5–1.8 mm long. Achenes cylindric, 2.6–5 × 0.6–0.9 mm, brownish, with 5 ribs, corpus slightly narrowed toward apex and near base, carpopodium 5-lobed, epidermis cells with very short, light-coloured antrorse apical prolongation (under high magnification). Pappus 5–6.3 mm long, of scabridulous bristles of equal size and shape in 1 series, persistent, snow-white.

Distribution, ecology and phenology — The species is distributed in the Greater Caucasus (common and locally abundant in its western and central parts) and the Lesser Caucasus (sporadically found from the Pontic Range in the west to the Trialeti Range in the east). It occurs in Russia (Krasnodar Krai, Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia and possibly Kabardino-Balkaria), Georgia (incl. Abkhasia and South Ossetia) and northeasternmost Turkey (Artvin and Rize) ( Sennikov 2009, 2022). A point distribution map is provided in Fig. 7 . In that area, the species occurs in the high-humidity montane forests to their upper limit or slightly above it, generally under the shade of Picea orientalis or Fagus L., or less often in mixed Fagus , Abies Mill. , Pinus L. and elfin forest and in Rhododendron ponticum L. thickets ( Kirpicznikov 1964), at altitudes of (1500–)1800–2200(–2500) m in the western Caucasus and (1600–)1900–2400(–2800) m in Georgia. In Turkey, where the species is referred to as “Sarı eğikçiçek” ( Ekim 2012), it occurs at altitudes of 1400–2200 m. The species flowers from July to early September, and fruits in September.

Figures

Fig. 6. Caucasoseris abietina (Prenanthes abietina) – A: habit; B: flowering capitula; C: fruiting capitula; D: lower cauline leaf; E: upper cauline leaf. – From Coşkunçelebi & Güzel 458; photographs by Coşkunçelebi & Güzel from province Rize, Turkey. – Scale bars = 1 cm.

Fig. 7. Distribution area of Caucasoseris abietina (Prenanthes abietina) in the Caucasus region, based on herbarium specimens and documented observations (Sennikov 2022).