Centaurea microlopha (Boiss. ex Tchih.) Ranjbar & Negaresh

Ranjbar, Massoud & Negaresh, Kazem, 2013, A revision of Centaurea sect. Phaeopappus (Asteraceae, Cardueae), Phytotaxa 123 (1), pp. 1-40 : 23

10. Centaurea microlopha (Boiss. ex Tchih.) Ranjbar & Negaresh , comb. nov. Fig. 11 .

Basionym: Phaeopappus microlophus Boiss. ex Tchihatcheff (1860: 308) . Phaeopappus armenus Jaub. & Spach var. microlophus (Boiss. ex Tchih.) Boissier (1875: 598) . Tomanthea microlopha (Boiss. ex Tchih.) Czerepanov (1960: 474) . Centaurea spectabilis (Fisch. & C. A. Mey.) Sch. Bip. var. microlopha (Boiss. ex Tchih.) Wagenitz (1963: 179) . Type: ARMENIA. Bingoeldagh, 1858, Tchihatcheff s.n. (holotype G!, isotype P!, photo BASU!).

Perennial plants, usually completely grayish, 10–25 cm tall; collum covered with abundant brown fibrous remains of petioles of previous year. Stem erect to ascending or suberect, often branched near base to median part, cylindrical, rigid, ca. 2 mm in diam. at the base, densely floccose-tomentose. Leaves always divided, almost pinnatisect or pinnatipartite, ± densely floccose-tomentose. Basal and lower leaves divided, 10–12 cm long, pinnatipartite, segments in 8–12 pairs, linear or narrowly lanceolate, terminal segments equal to lateral, 3–8 mm wide, acute or acuminate at apex, entire. Median cauline leaves sessile, 8–10.2 cm long, pinnatisect, segments in 6–9 pairs, linear or narrowly lanceolate, 2–4 mm wide, acuminate at apex, entire. Upper cauline leaves sessile, reduced, 2.5–5.5 cm long, divided, sometimes entire, usually longer than capitula, acuminate at apex. Capitula 3–4 on peduncles up to 8 mm long or sessile, solitary at end of branches; involucres ovoid or subglobose, 20–22 × 25–28 mm. Phyllaries multiseriate, imbricate, coriaceous, green-brownish, smooth and glabrous. Median phyllaries lanceolate-oblong, 12–13 × ca. 8 mm; appendages 1.5–2 × 1.5–2.2 mm (cilia and spine included). Inner phyllaries oblong-linear, 14–16 × 4–6 mm; appendages 1–1.6 × 0.8–1.2 mm (cilia and spine included). Appendages very small, concealing only a minor part of phyllaries, brown or dark brown, shortly rectangular or shortly ovate, not decurrent; cilia short, ca. 1 mm long; spine short, up to 1.5 mm long, sometimes absent. Flowers yellow; central florets hermaphrodite, ca. 25 mm long, corolla ca. 15 mm long, anther tube pink; peripheral florets sterile, finely dissected, not radiant. Achenes oblong, brownish, glabrous, 6–7 mm long, 2.5– 3.5 mm wide; hilum lateral, ca. 0.8 mm long, glabrous. Pappus 14–17 mm long, scabrous, brown.

Taxonomic and distributional remarks: — Centaurea microlopha generally occurs in E Turkey and Armenia. It is an Irano-Turanian element known only from the mid-montane zone ( Wagenitz 1975). Centaurea microlopha grows on meadows and meadow-steppe slopes, at elevations of 1030–1900 m. It is similar to C. spectabilis in the color of flowers and size of achenes. Boissier (1845) was the first person who recognized this species as Phaeopappus microlophus . In Flora Orientalis ( Boissier 1875) , P.microlophus was included in P. armenus Jaubert & Spach (1847: 13) as a variety. Czerepanov (1960) classified this species under Tomanthea . Wagenitz (1963) considered this species as a variety of C. spectabilis because of its short cilia. Centaurea microlopha differs from C. spectabilis in some important characters (see Table 6), and it seems that its inclusion into C. spectabilis was incorrect.

Chromosome numbers: — Uysal et al. (2009) reported the chromosome number 2 n = 2 x = 18 for C. spectabilis var. microlopha collected from Turkey, between Van and Gürpinar. This is the only count for C. microlopha .

Selected specimens examined:— TURKEY. A8 Gümüşane / Erzurum: at the Çoruh, Bourgeau 438 (E!); B8 Erzurum: Ilica to Tercan , 1900 m, Davis 30838 (E!) ; Muş: SW slopes of Bingöl Da. 8 km from Çaylar to Karliova , 1850 m, Davis 46149 (E!) .

Figures

FIGURE 11. Centaurea microlopha (Boiss. ex Tchih.) Ranjbar & Negaresh (Tchihatcheff s.n., G). A and B. habit. C. phyllaries and achenes. D and E. median phyllaries. F. inner phyllary. Scale D–F = 1 cm.