Hieracium lomniczkianum Szeląg, 2023

Szeląg, Zbigniew, 2023, Hieracium lomniczkianum (Asteraceae), a new species in the H. wiesbaurianum aggregate from the Sudetes in Poland, Phytotaxa 594 (4), pp. 251-255 : 251-253

Hieracium lomniczkianum Szeląg , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1−2 )

Type: ― POLAND. Sudetes , Karkonosze Mts., Kocioł Łomniczki glacial cirque, rocky and grassy slope with Pinus mugo on granite along a tourist path, 1370 m a.s.l., originally found on July 17, 2019, specimens from plants cultivated from seed in the author’s garden, pressed on May 5, 2022, Z. Szeląg (holotype KRAM; isotypes Herb. Hierac. Z. Szeląg) .

Paratype: ― POLAND. Sudetes , Karkonosze Mts. , northern slope of Mt. Smogornia, near the ruins of Prince Heinrich shelter, July 29, 1994, Z. Szeląg (Herb. Hierac. Z. Szeląg) .

Description: ―Phyllopodous with overwintering rosette leaves. Stem 25–40 cm high, slender, purplish at base; in lower and middle part with sparse stellate hairs, within synflorescence with numerous stellate hairs, and without or with very few dark, glandular hairs 0.2–0.4 mm long. Synflorescence branches 2–4, mostly monocephalous, up to 10 cm long. Acladium up to 2 cm long. Rosette leaves 6–10, up to 11 cm long and up to 2 cm wide, cuneate at base, tapered to a winged, purplish petiole; 2–3 outer leaves (withering at anthesis) small, obovate, rounded at apex, entire; inner leaves lanceolate, acute at apex, remotely denticulate at the base of lamina and entire in upper half; upper surface somewhat glaucous and dull, almost glabrous or with scattered stellate hairs; lower surface purplish-green with sparse, pale simple hairs up to 1.5 mm long, without or with sparse stellate hairs (simple and stellate hairs somewhat numerous on the midrib); margins with numerous pale simple hairs up to 2.0 mm long, sparse stellate hairs and scattered, pale microglands 0.1 mm long. Cauline leaves 1(–2), reduced in size, cultrate or almost bract-like, sessile, entire, with similar indumentum to inner rosette leaves. Peduncles slender with dense stellate hairs and scattered to moderately numerous blackish glandular hairs 0.2–0.4 mm long. Bracteoles 2–3, dark green. Involucres 8–10 mm long, campanulate, with moderately dense indumentum. Involucral bracts in three rows; outer bracts shorter; dark green, with scattered, simple dark-based simple hairs up to 1.3 mm long, numerous, blackish glandular hairs 0.3–0.5 mm long (ratio of simple hairs to glandular hairs 1:2) and dense stellate hairs on the margins. Ligules orange-yellow, without cilia at apex. Styles yellow. Achenes black, 3.6–3.9 mm long. Pappus pale grey. Pollen in anthers few of irregular size. Flowering: July.

Affinity: ― Hieracium lomniczkianum is distinguished by narrow, weakly dentate or almost entire rosette leaves, gradually tapered to a winged petiole and dull on both surfaces, as well as by the slender stem with small capitula.

It is morphologically similar to H. wiesbaurianum subsp. subdiversifolium (Zahn 1922: 265) (C.H.Zahn, Hieraciotheca Europaea No. 866!) from the Vrkoč basalt hill near Ústí nad Labem city in Czechia. It differs from H. lomniczkianum in having (1) wider, more dentate and spotted leaves, (2) the lack of stellate hairs on both leaf surfaces, (3) dark stigmas, and (4) the presence of simple hairs on peduncles.

In general habit H. lomniczkianum resembles also H. cyathis (Ley) Linton (1905: 30) from Wales originally described as H. hypochoeroides var. cyathis Ley (1898: 6) which differs, however, in more oval, glaucous and brownspotted leaves and a short acladium ( Rich et al. 2008).

Distribution and habitat: —Endemic to the Karkonosze Mountains in the Sudetes, known only from the type locality in the Łomniczka glacial cirque. In 2019, the population of H. lomniczkianum comprised not more than 15 plants including eight fruiting ones. They were growing in subalpine rocky grasslands amongst Pinus mugo , at 1370 m a.s.l. The second locality near the ruins of the Prince Heinrich shelter was destroyed in the 1990s.

Notes: ―According to Zahn (1921), the collective species H. wiesbaurianum s. lat. [based on H. wiesbaurianum Uechtritz in Baenitz (1879: 5)] includes numerous taxa of presumably hybrid origin between H. bifidum s. lat. and H. schmidtii s. lat. Gottschlich (1996, 2023) considered that they are relicts of difficult-to-determine origin, not always co-occurring with H. schmidtii s. lat. According to Pugsley (1948) and Sell & West (1976), H. hypochoeroides Gibson (1843: 741) described from the British Isles also corresponds to the morphological formula H. bifidum – H. schmidtii . Consequently, Greuter (2007) made a number of nomenclatural changes, including the combination H. hypochoeroides subsp. wiesbaurianum (R.Uechtr.) Greuter (2007: 155) .

The spotted leaves, the characteristic feature of H. hypochoeroides was reflected in the name of the species, whereas H. wiesbaurianum has leaves without spots. Therefore, I distinguish two groups of the taxa, i.e. the H. hypochoeroides agg. which comprises taxa with spotted and usually distinctly pubescent leaves which predominate in western and southern Europe, and the H. wiesbaurianum agg. which includes taxa with leaves without spots that are more common in central Europe ( Zahn 1935).

Hitherto, the only representative of the H. wiesbaurianum agg. in the Karkonosze Mountains was H. wiesbaurianum subsp. subwiesbaurianum nom. illeg. Two localities of this taxon were located on the Czech side of the mountains ( Zahn 1935), in the Dlouhý Důl valley, but not confirmed for many years ( Šourek 1970), and in the Velká Kotelní jáma glacial cirque recently re-found by J. Chrtek and V. Zavadil and determined as H. hypochoeroides ( Harčarik & Horáková 2018) .

The illegitimate name H. wiesbaurianum subsp. subwiesbaurianum was replaced by H. wiesbaurianum subsp. semiwiesbaurianum Gottschlich (2005: 235) . Since the original material cited in the protologue ( Zahn 1921: 262) is heterogeneous, the name H. wiesbaurianum subsp. semiwiesbaurianum refers only to plants from Austria (Gottschlich 2005) whereas a part of specimens from Thuringia in Germany have been classified as H. jenzigense (Bornmüller & Zahn) Müller (2004: 138) . It is highly probable that plants from the Czech side of the Karkonosze Mountains may also belong to a separate species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Holotype of Hieracium lomniczkianum (KRAM).

FIGURE 2. Holotype of Hieracium lomniczkianum: involucres and rosette leaves.