Artemisia amoena Poljakov (1954: 421)

Jin, Guang-Zhao, Sheludyakova, Mariya, Abduraimov, Ozodbek, Feng, Ying & Ge, Xue-Jun, 2025, A Taxonomic Revision of Artemisia Subgenus Seriphidium (Asteraceae-Anthemideae) in China, Phytotaxa 686 (1), pp. 1-103 : 53

1. Artemisia amoena Poljakov (1954: 421) ≡ Seriphidium amoenum (Poljakov) Poljakov (1961b: 174) . Type:— KAZAKHSTAN. Kurshim District: 1 September 1950, P. Poljakov 76 (lectotype designated here: LE00052852!; isolectotypes:LE00053815!,LE00053816!,LE00053817!,LE00053818!, LE00053819!, LE00053820!, LE00053821!, LE00053822!).

Perennial herbs, 10–28 cm tall. Stems few or numerous, erect or slightly curved at the base, branching from the upper part, branches 1–3 cm long, closely appressed to the stem. Lower stem leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, 1–2-pinnatisect, 1.5–3 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm wide, petiole 1.5–3 cm long, with 2–4 segments per side, segments occasionally 3-lobed, lobules linear or lanceolate, 4–12 mm long, 1–2.5 mm wide, apex acuminate. Middle stem leaves pinnatisect, 1–2 cm long, 0.5–1.5 cm wide, with linear pseudostipules. Upper stem leaves undivided or 3-lobed, with linear or lanceolate lobules. The grayish-white tomentum on the stems, branches, and leaves does not shed. Capitula long-ovoid, 2–3.5 mm long, 1.5–2 mm in diameter. Synflorescence a narrow panicle, branches very short with densely crowded capitula. Bisexual florets 4–5, corolla yellow or red.

Notes:—In the protologue of Artemisia amoena, Poljakov (1954) cited the gathering P. Poljakov 76 at LE as the type. We have traced nine sheets of this gathering at LE. All of them have the information given in the protologue and perfectly match the original description. According to Arts. 9.12 and 9.17 of the ICN ( Turland et al. 2018), sheet LE00052852 has been designated as the lectotype, and the other eight sheets as isolectotypes.

In China, A. amoena was first recorded in northern Xinjiang by Ling (1988). It was later included in the Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae ( Ling 1991b), Flora Xinjiangensis ( Wei 1999), and Flora of China ( Ling et al. 2011). However, no definitive specimens of A. amoena from China were examined in the current study.Additionally, a review of literature on A. amoena from countries bordering Xinjiang ( Poljakov 1954, 1961a, b, Filatova 1966, 1984, Urgamal et al. 2014) showed no records of its distribution in China. Consequently, we have excluded this species from the flora of China in this study.

This species can be easily distinguished from other species in A. subg. Seriphidium by its pinnatisect lower and middle leaves and its 1-3 cm long branches, which grow obliquely upward along the stem.