Hieracium richianum Szelag 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Szeląg, Zbigniew
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Asterales
Asteraceae
Hieracium
Hieracium richianum

description: Hieracium richianum Szeląg, sp. nov. (Figs. 1−2)
Type: ― ROMANIA. Eastern Carpathians, Ciucaş Mts., Mt. Muntele Roşu, grassy slope with Rhododendron kotschyi and Bruckenthalia spiculifolia, 1740 m a.s.l., 25 July 2015, Z. Szeląg (holotype KRAM; isotypes CL, Herb. Hierac. Z. Szeląg).
Description: ―Phyllopodous. Stem robust, monocephalous or bicephalous, up to 30 cm high; in the lower third with numerous, pale, 2–3 mm long simple hairs and scattered stellate hairs; in the middle part with sparse, pale, 2–3 mm long simple hairs and numerous stellate hairs. Peduncles with quite numerous, pale, dark-based, 1–2 mm long simple hairs, numerous stellate hairs and sparse, black, 0.2–0.6 mm long glandular hairs. Synflorescence branch (if present) monocephalous, up to 8 cm long, in axil of uppermost cauline leaf. Rosette leaves 6–10, up to 12 cm long and up to 3 cm wide, lanceolate or oblanceolate, tapered to a long, winged petiole, remotely, sharply denticulate; the outer rosette leaves obtuse at apex (often withering at anthesis), the inner rosette leaves subacute at apex; on both surfaces with scattered, pale, 0.5–2 mm long simple hairs, and a few stellate hairs especially along a midrib; on the margins with numerous, pale simple hairs up to 2 mm long, mixed with sparse yellowish glandular hairs and a few stellate hairs. Cauline leaves 4–6, sessile, ±semi-amplexicaul, gradually reduced in size upwards, lanceolate, acute at apex, sharply, irregular dentate, with a protruding white midrib; lower cauline leaves similar in shape and indumentum to inner rosette leaves; uppermost cauline leaves linear, bract-like, covered by dense, pale, simple hairs up to 2 mm long mixed with sparse microglands and stellate hairs. Involucres 12–14 mm long, globose at base, covered by quite dense indumentum. Involucral bracts in three rows; the outer bracts squarrose (visible in living plants) (Fig. 2); lanceolate, obtuse at apex, dark green, with subdense, pale, dark-based simple hairs 2.5–4.0 mm long, and scattered to numerous, dark-based, yellowish, 0.2–0.4 mm long glandular hairs. Ligules flat; outer up to 15–18 mm long, yellow, glabrous at apex. Styles yellow with dense, black microtrichomes. Achenes almost black, 3.7–4.0 mm long. Pappus pale-grey. Pollen in anthers few, spherical and of varying size. Flowering: end of July and beginning of August.
Affinity: ― Hieracium richianum is similar to H. slovacum Chrtek in Chrtek & Marhold (1998: 203) from the Western Carpathians but differs in its (1) shorter involucres, (2) less dense and shorter indumentum of the peduncles, (3) broader and in part obtuse at apex rosette leaves, (4) shorter and completely pale simple hairs on the stem, and (5) ligules glabrous at apex. The morphological differences between both species are stable in garden-cultivated plants.
Distribution and habitats: ―Endemic to the Ciucaş Mountains in the Eastern Carpathians, Romania. The populations of H. richianum comprised tens of plants spread along a tourist path from the Muntele Roşu hut to Mt. Gropoşoarele, at 1670−1750 m a.s.l. They were growing in subalpine grasslands amongst Rhododendron kotschyi and Juniperus alpina thickets, and on south-facing slope with Bruckenthalia spiculifolia.
Chromosome number and mode of reproduction: —2n = 4x = 36, agamospermous (Musiał et al. 2018: 77, as Hieracium fritzei agg.).
Etymology: —The new species is named in honour of Dr. Tim Rich, Cardiff, an expert of the genus Hieracium Linnaeus (1753: 799), and co-author of valued monographs on the British Hieracia (Tennant & Rich 2008; Rich & Scott 2011; McCosh & Rich 2018).
description: Published as part of Szeląg, Zbigniew, 2020, Hieracium richianum (Asteraceae), a new species of H. sect. Alpina from the Eastern Carpathians in Romania, pp. 93-96 in Phytotaxa 436 (1) on pages 93-95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.436.1.11, http://zenodo.org/record/13874352