柄果菊属 bing guo ju shu

Authors: Zhu Shi & Norbert Kilian

Arachnospermum F. W. Schmidt.

Herbs, [annual or] biennial or perennial, often with woody caudex and rosulate. Leaves pinnately divided, base with semiamplexicaul usually persistent sheath. Involucre cylindric, usually distinctly prolonged toward fruiting. Phyllaries in several series, often subapically corniculate. Receptacle naked. Achene with conspicuous cylindric carpopodium usually 1/5-1/3 as long as achene body. Pappus of strong bristles; bristles softly fimbriately plumose for most of length and apically scabrid.

About 17 species: N Africa, C and SW Asia, Europe; one species in China.

Molecular phylogenetic analyses by Mavrodiev et al. (Taxon 53: 699-712. 2004) revealed that Scorzonera in its wider sense is polyphyletic and provided support for the recognition of Podospermum as a separate genus.

Lower Taxon

• Podospermum songoricum (Karelin & Kirilov) Tzvelev