Leontodon filii (Hochstetter ex Seubert) Paiva & Ormonde (1973: 447)

Moura, Mónica, Silva, Luís, Dias, Elisabete F., Schaefer, Hanno & Carine, Mark, 2015, A revision of the genus Leontodon (Asteraceae) in the Azores based on morphological and molecular evidence, Phytotaxa 210 (1), pp. 24-46 : 36-37

Leontodon filii (Hochstetter ex Seubert) Paiva & Ormonde (1973: 447)

≡ Microderis filii Hochstetter ex Seubert (1844: 34) ≡ Picris filii (Hochstetter ex Seubert) Bentham & Hooker f. (1873: 512) .

Lectotype designated by Lack 1981:— AZORES. “In praeruptis humidis montis Pico alt. 3000–4000’”: July 1838, C. Hochstetter 97 ( TUB!, isolectotypes: BM! FI-W! G! K! P! TUB! W!).

− Thrincia nudicaulis subsp. azorica Gandoger (1918: 54) .

Holotype:— AZORES. Faial: Caldeira, 24 July 1878, Thiébaut 812 ( LY!).

Acaulous rosettiform rhizomatous perennial herb; white latex present. Rootstock usually stout, woody, sometimes a long napiform root. Leaves few to several (1–10), petiolate; petiole (3.0-) 9.9 (-23.8) cm long × (0.2-) 0.7 (-1.8) cm wide, grooved, often narrowly winged; petiole trichomes often 2–3-fid; leaf (4.0-) 12.3 (-34.5) cm long × (1.1-) 5.4 (-11.7) cm wide; elliptic to ovate, or obovate, attenuate at base onto apex of petiole; usually densely pubescent above and beneath, hairs about 1 mm long or longer and attenuate, curved or appearing almost uncinate, apices more often 2–3-fid up to 4-fid; venation pinnate, usually paler than lamina, midrib prominent beneath with many hairs, usually grooved above; margins flat to coarsely undulate, serrate, coarsely serrate or sometimes deeply lobed at base, lobes simple or sometimes bifid, lamina apices acute or acuminate. Two to three flowering stipes up to (20-) 37 (-52) cm tall; erect rarely ascending; ramification generally initially dichotomous at the base, with 1–4 proximal ramifications; lax panicle, usually aphyllous, internodes long, stipe striate, densely pubescent at base, peduncles and pedicels, usually with scale-like bracteoles beneath upper branches; stipe trichomes usually 2–3-fid up to 4-fid; pedicels (0.4-) 6.2 (- 32.2) cm long, usually thickening below involucre, bracteolate, bracteoles scale like, (2-) 4 (-10) mm long, also with hairs, narrow triangular, entire; the pedicel bracteoles often also found at the base of the capitulum forming a more or less incomplete, unequal calyculus around 2–4 mm long. Capitula ligulate, (0.5-) 2.2 (-4.4) cm in diameter, (1-) 6 (-17) per synflorescence; involucre cylindrical in bud and scarcely widening in flower at apex, base becoming slightly inflated postanthesis and in fruit; phyllaries biseriate, triangular to oblong, external bracts (0.9-) 3.8 (-7.7) mm long, internal bracts (6.7-) 11.3 (18.6) mm long × (0.1-) 1.1 (2.1) mm wide, margins glabrous below and sparsely ciliate towards apex, tissue papillate and usually blackish; bract trichomes usually 2-fid; receptacle flat, alveolated, ciliated. Florets (33-) 82 (-122) ligulate, hermaphrodite, fertile, corollas yellow to orange but becoming brown postanthesis, eventually deciduous; corolla tube (1.0-) 3.9 (-7.3) mm long, yellow, ligule (7.3-) 13.3 (-26.5) mm long x (0.1-) 1.1 (-2.1) mm wide, glabrous inside, sparsely pubescent outside just above sinus with eglandular hairs, ligule apex with five distinct teeth, teeth apices thickened, glabrous; anther cylinder yellow (2.3-) 4.5 (-7.1) mm long, apical anther appendages acute to obtuse, slightly longer than wide, basal anther appendages sagittate; styles (3.5-) 6.0 (12.5) mm long; style arms (0.1-) 1.2 (-3.2) mm long, ascending or divergent, very short pubescent outside throughout. Achenes pale brown, (0.6-) 3.0 (-9.2) mm long × (0.1-) 0.4 (-1.1) mm wide, narrowly fusiform, narrowing slightly upwards to a distinct apical callus, body striate, lightly rugose across striae; pappus setae (4.4-) 7.2 (-12.6) mm long, plumose. The ITS region differs from all other Azorean Leontodon in the motif GTTT T AGGA ( C / G replaced by T).

Notes: —The lectotype of L. filii is at TUB and was designated by Lack (1981) based on the protologue and drawing depicted in Flora Azorica ( Seubert 1844) . The sheet has a typed label indicating that it was collected by Karl Hochstetter in Pico mountain. However, a second sheet, with a smaller specimen, also illustrated in Seubert (1844) as representing “ Microderis filii ”, bears what appears to be an original label handwritten by Karl Hochstetter, indicating that the species occurs on the islands of Terceira, Pico, Faial (central group) and Flores (western group). In Seubert & Hochstetter (1843), although L. filii is listed, there is no reference to its distribution within the archipelago and only L. hochstetteri is mentioned as specific to Flores. In our sampling of Flores, two specimens showed a typical L. filii phenotype, however, in the molecular analysis turned out to belong to L. hochstetteri and they are considered here to be L. hochstetteri x L. saxatilis hybrids (see below). It is unclear whether Hochstetter also encountered hybrids in Flores; we have not seen specimens to support this idea.

Distribution:— Leontodon filii is distributed to the islands of Terceira, São Jorge, Pico and Faial.

Habitat:—From almost sea level up to 1450 m. More frequent above 500 m. In wet habitats, with a more or less continuous water supply. Steep slopes, ravines and craters, rarely near coastal waterfalls. In open grassland and around lakes, especially on rather protruding hummocks. In crevices on vertical cliffs and on dense humus layers or Sphagnum spp. carpet on slopes in ravines and craters. In forests dominated by Juniperus brevifolia and Erica azorica , also associated with Festuca francoi .

Phenology: —See L. hochstetteri .

Conservation Status:—Although being the most widespread of the three Azorean Leontodon species, the estimated population numbers are 5,000 –10,000 individuals ( Schaefer 2005) and it was previously classified as rare ( Schaefer 2003), a top priority species for conservation ( Silva et al. 2009) and Endangered [B2ab (i, ii, iii); Corvelo 2010]. Leontodon filii occupies fragmented areas of native vegetation in the central group and is threatened by grazing rabbits, sheep, goats and cows and the increasing expansion of invasive plants and transformation of natural vegetation into pastures. Thus, according to the IUCN classification, and based on the estimated number of plants, L. filli would be considered as Vulnerable (V) B1ab(i,ii,iii)+2ab(i,ii,iii); C2a(i).