Hieracium barrelieri Gottschl., Raimondo, Greuter & Di Grist., 2015

Gottschlich, Günter, Raimondo, Francesco M., Greuter, Werner & Gristina, Emilio Di, 2015, Hieracium barrelieri, a new hawkweed species from S Italy, with notes on Tenore’s Hieracium murorum var. barrelieri (Asteraceae), Phytotaxa 208 (1), pp. 70-74 : 71-73

Hieracium barrelieri Gottschl., Raimondo, Greuter & Di Grist. , spec. nov.

Hieracium murorum var. barrelieri Ten., Fl. Nap. 4: 114 (1830: 114) pro parte, non sensu stricto.

Type:— Italy, Campania, Montevergine, Mercogliano ( AV), 40°56’34.52” N, 14°43’35.63” E, 1290 m, carbonate rocks, 07.07.2014, Di Gristina 101733 (holotype PAL!, isotypes PAL-Gr!, B!, Hb. Gottschlich-61555!). ( Fig. 1)

Plant perennial, rosulate. Rhizome stout or slender, oblique or horizontal, often many-stemmed (2–7). Stem erect, vertical, (7-)10–30(-35) cm tall, green or brownish-green, often brownish-purple at the base, subtly striate, phyllopodous, nearly glabrous, rarely above with some scattered minute (up to 0.1 mm long) white-yellowish glandular and stellate hairs. Basal leaves (2-)3–5(-7), petiolate; petiole (1-) 1.5–5 cm long, green, often brownish purple at the base, narrowly winged, with moderately to fairly dense 2–4 mm long, silky, whitish, ± curved, dentate simple hairs; lacking stellate hairs; lamina elliptical or ovate-lanceolate, (2-)2.5–7(-8) × (1.3-)1.5–2.8(-3) cm, green or glaucousgreen, often spotted, attenuate or truncate at the base, margin in the proximal half dentate or denticulate, in the distal half denticulate or entire, acute or rounded-obtuse, seldom acuminate, glabrous above, with few 1–2.5 mm long, whitish, ± curved, dentate simple hairs on the margin and along the midrib on the abaxial surface; stellate hairs usually lacking. Cauline leaves (0-)1(-2), ovate-lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 1–5.5 × 0.3–2(-2.2) cm, contracted to a broad and winged petiole, with semiamplexicaul insertion to the stem; margin, colour and indumentum similar to those of the basal leaves. Inflorescence furcate or racemose-paniculate, seldom furcate-paniculate; branches (0-)1–2(-3), straight or curved-ascending, (1.2-)1.5–13(-16) cm long, each with 1–2(-3) capitula; capitula (1-)2–6; acladium (1-)1.5–5(-7) cm long. Peduncles only with moderately dense stellate hairs. Involucre subglobose or ovoid, 8–9 mm long. Involucral bracts in few series, dark green, lighter at the margin, up to 1–1,1 mm wide, the outer oblong-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, the inner longer, lanceolate, cuspidate or acute, with sparse, 0.8–1.5 mm long, distally white and dark based simple hairs; moderately dense, 0.1–0.8 mm long glandular hairs with yellowish-black glands and black stipe; and moderately dense stellate hairs, fairly dense at the base and along the margin. Corolla limb ligulate, yellow, glabrous. Styles yellow. Margins of receptacular pits triangular-dentate. Achenes up to 3 mm long, dark brown.

Biological form:—Rosulate hemicryptophyte.

Phenology:—Flowering late June to second decade of July ( Fig. 2 ). Fruiting in July.

Distribution and ecology:— Hieracium barrelieri is currently know only from Montevergine (Mercogliano, Avellino province), within the “Parco Regionale del Partenio”. It grows on north-exposed carbonate rocks, at the upper border of Fagus sylvatica Linnaeus (1753: 998) wood, between 1230 and 1350 m of elevation, around the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Montevergine. Its population comprises about 350 individuals. Together with Edraianthus graminifolius ( Linnaeus 1753: 166) A.DC. (in Candolle 1838 –1839: 448) subsp. graminifolius , Pimpinella tragium Villars (1779: 24) , Saxifraga marginata Sternberg (1822: 1) , S. callosa Sm. ex Dickson (1791 : pl. 63) subsp. callosa , S. rotundifolia Linnaeus (1753: 403) , etc., it belongs to a chasmophytic plant community characterised by several biogeographically interesting taxa.

Taxonomic relationship:— Hieracium barrelieri can confidently be placed in H. sect. Acanthodontoidea Gottschlich (2009: 167), a section that has been recently established as a result of the investigation of the Hieracium flora of Abruzzo ( Gottschlich 2009). Although the type of the sectional name, H. acathodontoides Arv. -Touv. & Belli, was described more than one hundred years ago, the taxonomic position of that species has not been properly understood until recently. Its nearest relatives are not members of Hieracium sect. Hieracium (like H. murorum Linnaeus 1753: 802 ) or of H. sect. Bifida ( Arvet-Touvet 1880: 287) Clapham (1952: 1153) (like H. bifidum Hornemann 1815: 761 ), but of H. sect. Grovesiana Gottschlich (2009: 167). However, the lowermost leaves are not forming a true rosette as in the aphyllopodous Hieracia , there are basal leaves arising from the rhizome tip along with one (rarely two) very lowinserted stem leaves, which because of shortened internodia amalgamate with the rosette leaves. This phenomenon can be seen under humid conditions, when the plants have one, rarely two stem leaves inserted near the base of the stem.

Hieracium barrelieri and H. acanthodontoides form a species pair, by analogy with H. murorum / H. bifidum or with H. dollineri Neilreich (1871: 74) / H. apricorum Dichtl (1884: 91) ; which means, they have a more or less identical growth form and are only to separated by characters of the indumentum. They can be distinguished as follows (Tab. 1):

Figures

FIGURE 2. Hieracium barrelieri blooming in nature.