Phagnalon calycinum subsp. ballsianum Maire (1937: 361)

Montes-Moreno, Noemí, Garcia-Jacas, Núria, Nualart, Neus, Susanna, Alfonso & Sáez, Llorenç, 2018, Typification of plant names referable to Phagnalon (Compositae) with some taxonomic notes, Phytotaxa 360 (1), pp. 1-18 : 5

Phagnalon calycinum subsp. ballsianum Maire (1937: 361)

Type:—[ MOROCCO.] Grand Atlas: rochers calcaires sous le Tizi-n-Test (versant Sud ), 1800 m, 25 June 1936, Balls 2916 (lectotype: MPU barcode MPU003810 !, designated here; isolectotypes: BM barcode BM000924064 !, E barcode E00531201 !, K!, P barcode P00084137 [digital image!], S number S-G-4761 [digital image!]) .

(Image available at: https://science.mnhn.fr/institution/um/collection/mpu/item/mpu003810).

= Phagnalon carolipaui Font Quer (1928: 13)

Notes:—The locality indicated in the original description is: “Grand Atlas: rochers calcaires au dessous du Tizi-n-Test, sur le versant Sud, vers 1800 m (E. K. BALLS)”. These plants were recognized at subspecific rank under Ph. calycinum on the basis of glabrescent leaves, brown involucral bracts, the size of the involucral bracts, and the presence of five pappus bristles. We selected as the lectotype the specimen MPU003810 which belongs to the original gathering collected by Balls and is kept in the MPU herbarium, which holds the main part of the original material of names proposed by Maire. The specimens kept at MPU and P are labelled Ph. ballsianum , whereas those kept at BM, E, K and S are labelled Ph. rupestre . On the basis of diagnostic morphological characters, we found morphological differences between Ph. calycinum subsp. ballsianum and Ph. calycinum s. str. Firstly, Ph. calycinum subsp. ballsianum generally has fewer pappus bristles than Ph. calycinum , as occurs in Ph. carolipaui . Secondly, Ph. calycinum s. str. has lanceolate and broader leaves whereas Ph. calycinum subsp. ballsianum has linear and narrower leaves with entire margins and involucral bracts with papery, hyaline margins, like those of Ph. carolipaui . In addition, Ph. calycinum subsp. ballsianum has florets with waxy cushions on the corolla lobes like those of Ph. carolipaui , whereas Ph. calycinum s. str. has florets lacking waxy cushions on the outside of the corolla lobes. Therefore, we consider that there are significant morphological discontinuities between Ph. calycinum subsp. ballsianum and Ph. calycinum s. str., and we consider Ph. calycinum subsp. ballsianum and Ph. carolipaui to be conspecific. Ferrer-Gallego & Guara (2011) also considered Ph. carolipaui an accepted taxon.