Cirsium yezoense (Maximowicz) Makino (1905: 155)

Jin, Zi-Chao & Chen, You-Sheng, 2022, Cirsium paludigenum and C. zhejiangense (Asteraceae) are synonymous with C. sieboldii and C. yezoense, Phytotaxa 543 (1), pp. 51-63 : 60-61

2. Cirsium yezoense (Maximowicz) Makino (1905: 155) .

Cnicus yezoensis Maximowicz (1874: 508)

Type: — JAPAN. Hakodate , Mohidzi, 1861, C. J . Maximowicz s.n. ( K000778217 !). Fig. 6 ( C – E) .

= Cirsium zhejiangense Z.H.Chen & X.F. Jin (2021: 2) , syn. nov.

Type: — CHINA. Zhejiang, Pan’an, Weixin, Lingjiangyuan , by stream under forest, alt. 550 m, 26 November 2013, X. F . Jin & T . T . Yu 3202 (holotype, ZM!; isotypes, HTC, PE!). Fig. 6 ( A, B) .

Description: —Herbs 30–110 cm tall, perennial. Roots fleshy. Stems, erect, unbranched or branched above, ribbed, unwinged, with sparse brown hairs and dense tomentose under capitula. Leaves concolorous, green. Basal leaves present at anthesis, rosulate, with petiole, 4–10 cm; leaf blade ovate or elliptic, 25–50 × 10–30 cm, pinnatilobate or pinnatifid, adaxailly green, with short brown hairs or glabrous, abaxially light green, glabrous or with sparsely arachnoid; segments 4–7 pairs, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic or triangular, toothed, teeth with marginal and 1–3 mm apical spines; terminal segment largest, triangular. Cauline leaves, sessile, ovate, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 5–20 × 3–12 cm, pinnatilobate or pinnatifid; segments 4–6 pairs, semielliptic, teeth with a ca. 3 mm apical spine, adaxailly green, with short brown hairs or glabrous, abaxially light green, glabrous or with sparsely arachnoid; gradually smaller upward. Capitula solitary to many, terminal, nodding in flower, erect in fruit. Involucre campanulate, 1–2 cm (in vivo) and 3–4.5 cm (in sicco) in diam., 3–5 cm high, glabrous or with sparsely arachnoid. Peduncles 5–10 cm, with dense tomentose. Phyllaries imbricate, patent, in 5–10 rows, lacking marginal spinules, wings, and scarious appendage; outer and middle phyllaries, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, with acuminate tips, patent, 5–13 × 3–3.5 mm, narrowed into a 1–2 mm spine; inner phyllaries lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1.5–2 × 0.2–0.3 cm, apex purplish pink, acuminate and softly spiny. Florets bisexual. Corolla purple, ca. 2.8 cm, tube ca. 1.3 cm, limb ca. 1.5 cm long, lobes 5, linear, ca. 6 mm long. Anther purple, ca. 9 mm long including appendage. Achenes cylindric, laterally compressed, ca. 5 mm long, ca. 1.7 mm wide, smooth, indistinctly longitudinally ribbed, apical rim forming a crown. Pappus of 3–4 rows of plumose bristles, pale brown, ca. 2 cm long.

Phenology: —Flowering and fruiting from September to November.

Distribution and habitat: — Cirsium yezoense is distributed in Anhui, Guizhou, Hunnan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang province of China. In the website of Chinese Field Herbarium (https://www.cfh.ac.cn/album/ShowPhoto. aspx?photoid=6b60814b-3301-4dc1-b2d3-70550ec479d4) and Plant Photo Bank of China (http://ppbc.iplant.cn/ tu/7001749), we also find a similar plant from Yuexi county and Chizhou county, Anhui Province ( Fig. 8 ). It mainly grows on the forest margins at altitudes of about 500–1000 m.

Additional specimens examined: — CHINA. Guizhou: Jiangkou, Fangjingshan, Sino-American Guizhou Botanicai Expedition 1040 ( PE00456363 ) . Hunan: Hengshan , Yang 5861 ( PEY0060419 ), Z. H . Hu 512 ( PE01834991 ), Z. H . Hu 513 ( PE01834990 ), Z. C . Jin HS2021021 ( IBSC) . Jiangxi: Fengxin, LBG Exped. 00416 ( PE01776765 ); Wuning, LBG Exped. 0047 ( PE01776770 ), C. M . Tan 941188 ( PE01837338 ); Tonggu, S. K . Lai 03673 ( PE00455899 ); Xiushui, Y. Q . Miu et al. Tancm 2451 ( JJF00028632 , JJF00028633 ) . Zhejiang: Lin’an, Xitianmushan, H . X. He 25779 ( PE01837442 , HZ 047017), K. K . Tsoong 754 ( PE00455997 , PE00455874 ), Zhejaing Agricultural University D 330 ( PE00455875 ), 10343 ( PE00455879 ), S. Y . Hu 31 ( PE00457428 ), Z. C . Jin ZJ2021009 ( IBSC), Z. C . Jin ZJ 20210010 ( IBSC); Yandangshan, K. K . Tsoong s.n. ( PE0455871 ); Tiantaishan, K. K . Tsoong 3712 ( PE00455873 , PE00455882 ); Changhua, H . X. He 15314 ( HZ 047043) .— JAPAN. Akita, M . Matsuda ( TNS 50829) ; Aomori, M . Furuse 9652 ( PE 01292177), Y. Kadota 55001 ( TNS753035 ) ; Fukui, N . Kurosaki 177031 ( TNS591236 ) ; Gifu, M . Furuse 52183 ( PE 01292173), H . Takahashi 20840 ( TNS714682 ) ; Gunma, H . Utsumi ( TNS142954 ) ; Hokkaido, H . Yamaji 1195 ( PE01523768 ), T . Satow ( TNS105191 ) ; Iwate, M . Furuse 41390 ( PE 01292175), M . Kikuchi ( TNS176756 ), T . Kawasaki 7309 ( HAST82445 ) ; Ishikawa, N . Kurosaki 3718 ( TNS310773 ); Koodzuke, M . Furuse 47139 ( PE 01292169, PE 01292170) ; Nagano, H . Koidzumi 34704 ( TNS178984 ) ; Miyagi, Y . Ueno 36413 ( TNS692011 ), H . Ohashi 21836 ( IBSC0580990 ) ; Toyama, K . Shinno ( TNS 56383) ; Yamagata, S . Okuyama ( TNS 36317), H . Koyama 4054 ( US 02159684) , K. Akuta ( HAST40095 ) .

Notes: — Cirsium zhejiangense Z.H.Chen & X.F.Jin was described on the basis of a collection, X.F.Jin & T.T.Yu 3202 (holotype, ZM; isotypes, HTC, PE), from Zhejiang, China. In the protologue, the author stated that this species differs from C. yezoense , a widespread species in Japan, by having 5–6 rows of phyllaries (vs. 8–10 rows), outer phyllaries shorter than inner (vs. subequal), leaf blade 15–52 × 5–15 cm (vs. 30–65 × 10–30 cm) and leaves adaxailly villose and abaxially pubescent (vs. glabrous). But based on observations on both herbarium specimens (including type material) and living plants, we demonstrate that C. zhejiangense is indistinguishable from C. yezoense . Cirsium yezoense , described from Japan, on the basis of a gathering, C.J. Maximowicz s.n. (K000778217; Fig. 6 C ), is a very widely distributed species. Through extensive herbarium survey, we found that the characters of C. yezoense are not completely consistent with that stated of Lu et al. (2021). It can be clearly seen from the involucre of type and common specimens of C. yezoense ( Fig. 6 : E, Fig. 7 ) that the outer phyllaries is shorter than the inner ones and C. yezoense is itself indeed somewhat variable in the rows of phyllaries. In fact, according to the description of C. yezoense by Kadota (1995) in Flora of Japan, its phyllaries are 6-seriate, outer phyllaries shorter than inner ones, leaves blades glabrous on both surfaces, or covered with short brown hairs on upper surface, or sparingly arachnoid on lower surface. These descriptions of C. yezoense are contradictory to those given by Lu et al. (2021), making C. yezoense indistinguishable from C. zhejiangense .

In 2021 we visited Tianmushan Mt. in Zhejiang province and Hengshan Mt. in Hunan province and successfully found two populations of C. zhejiangense . We found that the size of leaves of this species varies greatly (25–50 × 10–30 cm, Fig. 5 : E) and the leaf blade is pinnatilobate or pinnatifid. We found the leaf indumentum in C. zhejiangense is variable in both Hunan and Zhejiang populations, being sometimes glabrous, sometimes covered with short brown hairs on the upper surface, or sparingly arachnoid on the lower surface. The leaf indumentum in C. zhejiangense is in fact consistent with the description of C. yezoense ( Kadota 1995) . To summarize, the morphological variation of C. zhejiangense is within the range of C. yezoense . Therefore, the morphological characters used by Lu et al. (2021) to distinguish C. zhejiangense from C. yezoense are not diagnostic. We therefore reduce C. zhejiangense to the synonymy of C. yezoense herein.

Because its phyllaries lack marginal spinules, wings, and scarious appendage and leaves abaxially lack spinules, Cirsium yezoense should belong to C. sect. Cirsium . Cirsium yezoense is mostly similar to C. japonicum and many specimens of C. yezoense in Chinese herbaria were usually incorrectly identified as C. japonicum . The comparison of morphological characters between these two species are shown in Table 1 .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Living plants of Cirsium yezoense. A. habitat; B. plant; C. plant; D. synflorescence; E. basal leaves; F. cauline leaves; G. capitulum; H. longitudinal section of capitulum; I. florets; J. anther; K. phyllaries; L. pappus; M. seed.All photos by Zi-Chao Jin based on Z.C.Jin ZJ2021009 (IBSC) from Tianmushan, Lin’an, Zhejiang.

FIGURE 6. Specimens of Cirsium yezoense. A, B, D. China, Zhejiang, Pan’an, Weixin, Lingjiangyuan, by stream under forest, X.F.Jin & T.T.Yu 3202 (holotype of Cirsium zhejiangense, ZM; isotypes of Cirsium zhejiangense, PE; D. capitulum); C, E. Japan, Hakodate, Mohidzi, C.J.Maximowicz s.n. (type of Cirsium yezoense, K000778217; E. capitulum).

FIGURE 7. Selected specimens of Cirsium yezoense. A. Japan, Prov. Koodzuke, Pref. Gumma, M.Furuse 47139 (PE01292170); B. Japan, Prov. Rikuchu, Pref. Iwate, M.Furuse 41390 (PE01292175). C. Japan, Pref. Iwate, T.Kawasaki 7309 (HAST82445); D. Japan, Pref. Yamagata, H.Koyama 4054 (US02159684).

FIGURE 8. Distribution map of Cirsium sieboldii (red circles) and Cirsium yezoense (blue diamonds) in China.