Vol. 79, No. 3: 245-248, 2010 ACTA SOCIETATIS BOTANICORUM POLONIAE 245 A NEW SPECIES IN THE HIERACIUM LYCOPIFOLIUM AGG. (ASTERACEAE) FROM THE WESTERN CARPATHIANS ZBIGNIEW SZEL ¥G Institute of Botany, Jagiellonian University Kopernika 31, 31-501 Kraków, Poland e-mail: [email protected] (Received: March 11, 2010. Accepted: May 24, 2010) ABSTRACT Hieracium zajacii Szel¹g is described from the Ve¾ká Fatra Mts in Slovakia. It is the first representative of H. lycopifolium agg. to be found in the Carpathians. The new species is tetraploid (2n=36) and reproduces apomicti- cally. Its origin is briefly discussed. KEY WORDS: Asteraceae, chromosome number, distribution, Hieracium , mode of reproduction, new species, Ve¾ká Fatra Mts. INTRODUCTION MATERIAL AND METHODS The Western Carpathians are characterized by a rich and All plants for karyological analysis and cultivation in the diverse flora of the genus Hieracium L. Especially intere- garden were raised from the seeds collected on 2 August sting are the mountain ranges situated south of the Tatra 2008 in the Turecká Dolina valley in the Ve¾ká Fatra Mts Mts, i.e. south of the main chain of the Western Carpa- at ca. 900 m a.s.l. Detailed information on the experimen- thians, where the glacial refugia of the mountain Hieracia tal methods and karyological procedures followed here are were probably situated (Szel¹g 2004). I have been carrying given in Mráz and Szel¹g (2004), Szel¹g (2006b) and Sze- out research on this territory for several years now, which l¹g et al. (2007), but briefly the mode of reproduction was has resulted in discovery of two Hieracium species in the determined by excision experiments in the garden-cultiva- Nízke Tatry Mts new to the Carpathians (Szel¹g 2006a; ted plants, and the chromosomes were counted by Tomasz Ronikier and Szel¹g 2008). Ilnicki on three plants. The description of the new species The present paper is a result of field studies in the Ve¾ká is based on six herbarium specimens collected in the Ve¾ká Fatra Mts. When exploring the upper part of the Turecká Fatra Mts in August 2008. Dolina valley, situated on the southern slope of Mt. Krína, I discovered a taxon belonging to the H. lycopifolium agg. RESULTS (= H. lycopifolium s. lat., sensu Zahn 1938). The main di- stinguishing features of H. lycopifolium agg. taxa are the After comparison of the plants collected in the Ve¾ká Fa- soft, hairy, conspicuously dentate, amplexicaul cauline lea- tra Mts with herbarium specimens of H. lycopifolium Fro- ves and the stem covered by numerous to subdense simple el. from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, including speci- hairs. The geographical range of the H. lycopifolium agg. mens from the locus classicus in Karlsruhe, I concluded comprises the western Alps, centred on the Alpes Mariti- that the Carpathian plants differed from H. lycopifolium in mes. Isolated stations are known from the Vosgeses, the several important features. The production of fruit in six Jura, southern Schwarzwald and Schwabien (Zahn 1938), flower heads in which the anthers had been excised sho- as well as in the Abruzzi where it was recently found by wed that plants from the Ve¾ká Fatra Mts reproduced apo- Gottschlich (2009). No taxon of the H. lycopifolium agg. mictically. It was also found that plants from the Ve¾ká Fa- has been reported from the Carpathians to date. tra Mts were tetraploid (2n = 36), like H. lycopifolium from 246 A NEW SPECIES IN THE HIERACIUM LYCOPIFOLIUM AGG. Szel¹g Z. Fig. 1. Holotype of Hieracium zajacii Szel¹g. Baden-Württemberg (Schuhwerk and Lippert 1999). Based 0.3-0.7 mm long, yellowish glandular hairs and numerous on morphological differences and considering its apomictic yellowish microglands. Basal leaves withered at anthesis. mode of reproduction, I decided to describe the plants from Cauline leaves 20-30, gradually reduced upwards, oblance- the Ve¾ká Fatra Mts as a new species. olate to lanceolate, acute at apex; the lower cauline leaves finely denticulate or ± entire, 12-15 cm long and 2-3 cm wi- Hieracium zajacii Szel¹g spec. nova (Fig. 1) de, tapered to a long, winged petiole, on both surfaces with Species nova e Hieraciorum sectione Prenanthoidea W. scattered, pale 0.8-1.5 mm long simple hairs, on the mar- D. J. Koch, Hieracio lycopifolio Froel. simillima, sed invo- gins and along the midrib with numerous, pale, 0.8-1.5 mm lucris minoribus et densius glandulosis, caulis minus pilo- long simple hairs; the middle and upper cauline leaves ses- sus, ad basim epilosus vel parce pilosus distincta. sile and semi-amplexicaul, sharply and conspicuously den- Aphyllopodous. Stem 70-90 cm high, robust, purple- tate, on both surfaces with sparse, pale 0.8-1.5 mm long brown and almost glabrous at the base, in the lower and simple hairs and sparse stellate hairs, on the margins and middle part with numerous to subdense, pale, 1-2.5 mm along the midrib on the lower surface with numerous pale, long simple hairs and few to sparse stellate hairs, in the 0.8-1.5 mm long simple hairs and few yellow-brown micro- upper part (within synflorescence) with dense stellate hairs glands. Synflorescence with 15-30 erect capitula. Synflore- mixed with 0.6-1.0 mm long, dark-based simple hairs and scence branches 6-12, up to 10 cm long, confined to upper Vol. 79, No. 3: 245-248, 2010 ACTA SOCIETATIS BOTANICORUM POLONIAE 247 part of stem, with 2-4 capitula. Acladium up to 2 cm long. eum, Flora Badeniae, Schloßberg bei Freiburg, 450 m, 1. Peduncles green, thin, with numerous to subdense stellate Sep. 1899 A. Götz (PRC). hairs and numerous yellowish 0.3-0.7 mm long glandular hairs, without simple hairs. Bracteoles 2-4, lanceolate, dark green with numerous stellate and glandular hairs and a tuft DISCUSSION at the apex. Involucres cylindrical, 8-9 mm long, covered by dense indumentum. Involucral bracts lanceolate, obtuse According to Zahn (1929), Hieracium lycopifolium Fro- to subacute at apex, the outer bracts dark green to blackish el. is a hybrid derived from mountain H. prenanthoides green, with numerous stellate hairs and dense, 0.3-0.9 mm Vill. and lowland H. sabaudum L., which originated in the long, yellow, black-based glandular hairs; the inner bracts last glacial period when the lowering of the mountain ve- with pale green margins and sparse indumentum. Ligules getation belts made contact between the parent species po- yellow with numerous simple hairs at apex. Styles yello- ssible. However Gottschlich (1996a) does not regard H. ly- wish with blackish scales. Achenes stramineous, 3.9-4.0 copifolium as a hybrid, but rather as an independent species mm long. Pappus pale-grey. Pollen grains few, spherical of H. sect. Prenanthoidea W. D. J. Koch that occurs in the and of heterogeneous size. Flowering: August. lower parts of the Western Alps and their foreland. In Holotypus: Slovakia, Western Carpathians, Ve¾ká Fatra Schwabien (Schwäbischen Alb), H. lycopifolium grows in Mts, Ve¾ká Raminá valley, 900 m a.s.l., 48°5153N, relic, thermophilous forests of Quercetalia pubescenti-pe- 19°0416E, 2. Aug. 2008, Z. Szel¹g (KRA) (Isotypes: traeae (Gottschlich 1996a, b). KRAM, Herb. Hierac. Z. Szel¹g). The discovery of H. zajacii in the Western Carpathians Paratypi: Slovakia, Western Carpathians, Ve¾ká Fatra casts new light onto the problem of the origin of H. lycopi- Mts, Ve¾ká Raminá valley, 900 m a.s.l., 48°5153N, folium taxa. Due to considerable disjunction dividing the 19°0416E, plants raised from the seeds collected on 2. Western Alps and Western Carpathians and the lack of in- Aug. 2008 and cultivated in the authors garden, herbarized termediate stations of H. lycopifolium in the Eastern Alps, on 28. Aug. 2009, Z. Szel¹g (Herb. Hierac. Z. Szel¹g). it seems hardly possible that H. zajacii migrated to the pre- sent site all the way from the Western Alps. The small ran- Distribution and habitats ge occupied by H. zajacii in the Ve¾ká Raminá valley, as Hieracium zajacii is endemic to the Ve¾ká Fatra Mts in well as anthropogenic character of its habitat suggest, that Slovakia. It was found in the Ve¾ká Raminá valley (the it may be a local hybrid between H. prenanthoides and upper part of the Turecká Dolina valley) on the southern (presumably) H. sabaudum . Because of the moderate ele- slope of Mt. Krína at 880-920 m a.s.l. The population was vation of the Ve¾ká Fatra Mts, the vertical size of the mon- composed of ca. 30 flowering individuals growing in a few tane forest belt is small. Moreover, multi-century pastoral clusters along a tourist route leading to the summit of Mt. activity in the Western Carpathians has resulted in lowe- Malá Krína. The habitat of H. zajacii is anthropogenic ring of the treeline and elevating the vertical ranges of ma- glades in the beech forest belt on limestone. It grows in as- ny lowland plants. Anthropogenic glades in the upper part sociation with Astrantia major L., Calamagrostis arundina- of the Turecká Dolina valley, created by cutting down the cea (L.) Roth, Centaurea mollis Waldst. et Kit., C. phrygia beech forest, are places at which mountain and lowland L., Chrysanthemum subcorymbosum Schur, Cicerbita alpi- species grow side by side. na (L.) Wallr., Cirsium erisithales (Jacq.) Scop., C. erio- Hieracium lycopifolium s. lat. comprises 12 taxa that Za- phorum (L.) Scop., Clinopodium vulgare L., Digitalis gran- hn conservatively kept at subspecies rank (Zahn 1938; diflora Mill., Eupatorium cannabinum L., Galium schulte- Gottschlich 2009). The taxonomic position of some of the sii Vest., Geranium sylvaticum L., Heracleum sphondylium subspecies is highly controversial, especially where multi- L., Hypericum maculatum Crantz, Laserpitium latifolium ple taxa are recorded from the same stations, as Salvan in L., Origanum vulgare L., Rosa pendulina L., Senecio her- Wallis (Switzerland) from where Zahn (1938) enumerated cynicus Herborg and Stachys alpina L.