Isatis tomentella Boiss. & Balansa in Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. ser. 2, 5: 46. 1856.

 Isatis tinctoria subsp. tomentella (Boiss. & Balansa) P.H. Davis in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 26: 22. 1964.

Type: “Hab. in regione mediâ montis Sipyli suprâ Magnesiam cl. Balansa”.

Holotypus: TURKEY: “Partie moyenne du Mont Sipyle, au-dessus Magnésie”, 10.VI.1854, Balansa 85 (G-BOIS [G00332614]; iso-: BM [BM000582564], E [E00386106, E00386108], FI [FI 005708], G [G00371657, G00371785], GOET [GOET002624], JE [JE00001299], K [K000642882], KW [KW000127957], LE [LE00012928], P [P00741495, P00741498], US [US00099984], W [W0050162, W0050163, W1889158145], WAG [WAG0004252]) .

Notes. – As indicated above, Boissier in Flora Orientalis reduced the species to synonymy of I. tinctoria var. stenocarpa .

This taxon, the preceding, and following entries clearly belong to the highly variable I. tinctoria complex, which is the most widespread naturalized species in the genus and the only one cultivated extensively in the past for the blue dye woad (LEGGETT, 1944). It is still cultivated in SW Asia, through the central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union, into western and central China.

The lines separating its component infraspecific taxa can be tenuous and, therefore, DAVIS (1964) is followed in treating the extremes at the subspecific rather than the specific rank. In addition to Turkey, subsp. tomentella grows in Greece. However, in recognizing this entity at the species rank, TAN (2002: 127) erred in placing in its synonymy the earlier published I. corymbosa . Perhaps the ideal solution for the Greek representatives of this complex is to follow DAVIS (1964) in recognizing them at the subspecific rank.