Hieracium walasii Szeląg, 2025

Szeląg, Zbigniew, 2025, Two new species in Hieracium sect. Umbrosa (Asteraceae) from Mt. Babia Góra, Western Carpathians, Poland, Phytotaxa 684 (2), pp. 283-288 : 285-287

Hieracium walasii Szeląg , sp. nov. ( Figs. 2–5 )

Type: ― POLAND. Western Carpathians , Mt. Babia Góra massif, NW slope of the Kościółek Wschodni ridge, tall-herb vegetation Mulgedio-Aconitetea, 1530–1550 m a.s.l., 17 July 2024, Z. Szeląg (holotype KRAM; isotypes Herb. Hierac. Z. Szeląg) .

Paratypes: ― POLAND. Western Carpathians , Mt. Babia Góra massif, NE slope of the Kościółek Zachodni ridge above the Kamienna Dolinka valley, grassland on sandstone rocks, 1550–1610 m a.s.l., 18 July 2021, Z. Szeląg (Herb. Hierac. Z. Szeląg) ; Mt. Babia Góra massif, Złotnica ridge, on the margins of Pinus mugo thickets along a tourist path, 1500 m a.s.l., 21 July 2023, Z. Szeląg (Herb. Hierac. Z. Szeląg) .

Description: ―Phyllopodous. Stem robust 35–65 cm high, in lower third with numerous, pale, up to 3.5 mm long simple hairs; in the middle with sparse, pale, 1–2 mm long simple hairs, with a few or without stellate hairs, and with very sparse pale microglands; in upper third with numerous stellate hairs, scattered black glandular hairs 0.2–0.4 mm long, and very sparse dark-based simple hairs up to 2 mm long. Rosette leaves 3–5; outer leaves (withered at anthesis) obovate, subentire or remotely denticulate, rounded at apex; inner leaves oblong-lanceolate, subacute at apex, dentate to sharply dentate, up to 18 cm long and up to 5 cm wide, cuneate at base and gradually tapered to a long, winged petiole covered by subdense, up to 4 mm long simple hairs and with very few pale microglands. Cauline leaves 2–4, gradually reduced in size upwards. Lowest cauline leaf sessile or tapered to a short, broadly-winged petiole; other cauline leaves sessile and amplexicaul, oblanceolate and acute at apex. All leaves on the upper surface green with brownish-purple spots, with scattered pale simple hairs up to 1 mm long, on margins with ±numerous up to 1.5 mm long, simple, pale hairs and very few pale microglands; on the lower surface light-green with light-green, pale simple hairs up to 1 mm long, on midrib with more numerous, pale, up to 2.0 mm long simple hair. Synflorescence with 5–25 capitula. Synflorescence branches 1–4, up to 20 cm long in axils of middle and upper cauline leaves. Acladium up to 2 cm long. Peduncles thin, erect, with dense stellate hairs, and dense, black glandular hairs 0.3–0.7 mm long (without simple hairs). Bracteoles 2–3, grey-green with dense stellate hairs, and numerous glandular hairs. Involucres ±campanulate, subglobose at base 8–9 mm long. Involucral bracts in three rows, lanceolate, obtuse at apex, up to 1.1 mm wide at base, blackish green (inner bracts green with pale margins) with numerous, black glandular hairs up to 0.9 mm long, and dense stellate hairs along margins. Ligules warm-yellow, with cilia at apex. Styles dark. Achenes brown, 3.4–3.6 mm long. Pappus pale grey. Pollen in anthers few, mostly regular. Flowering: July and beginning of August.

Chromosome number and mode of reproduction: —2n = 3x = 27, agamospermous ( Musiał et al. 2024, as Hieracium umbrosum agg. no. 1).

Affinity: ― Hieracium walasii differs from other taxa of the H. umbrosum agg. by having brownish-purple spots on the leaves. In general habit, the small and medium plants of H. walasii are somewhat similar to taxa of the H. epimedium agg. However, the indumentum of peduncles and capitula of H walasii consists of numerous, black glandular hairs, and without the simple hairs. Consequently, it should be placed in the H. umbrosum agg.

Distribution and habitat: —Endemic to the Babia Góra massif in the Western Carpathians, known only from the Polish side of the mountains ( Fig. 4 ). In 2024, the population of H. walasii comprised about 500–600 flowering plants and at least the same number of vegetative ones, growing in three subpopulations in the upper part of the glacial cirque: on NW slopes of the Kościółek Wschodni ridge, in tall-herb vegetation Mulgedio-Aconitetea and openings in Pinus mugo community, at 1520–1560 m a.s.l.; in the Kamienna Dolinka valley, in rocky grassland below the steep sandstone rocks with the Saxifrago-Festucetum versicoloris community and on newly eroded slopes of the Kościółek Zachodni ridge, at 1550-1610 m a.s.l.; on the Złotnica ridge, in Pinus mugo thickets along a tourist path, at 1500 m a.s.l.

Etymology: —The species is named in honour of Prof. Dr. Jan Walas (1903–1991), Polish botanist, an author of the first publications on the vegetation of Mt. Babia Góra ( Walas 1933a, 1933b). Walas has also made many significant discoveries on Mt Babia Góra, among others Hieracium prenanthoides s.lat. (specimen at KRAM) which has never been found again.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Involucres of Hieracium stanislai (left) and H. walasii (right) (from holotypes).

FIGURE 3. Hieracium stanislai (left) and H. walasii (right) in the type localities.

FIGURE 4. Distribution of Hieracium stanislai (red dots) and H. walasii (yellow dots) on Mt. Babia Góra.

FIGURE 5. Holotype of Hieracium walasii (KRAM).