假蒲公英 jia pu gong ying

Type: China. Sichuan: "Sikang [西康], Taofu [道孚] distr., Taofu, in terra ‘loess,’" 3000 m, 16 Sep 1934, H. Smith 11458 (holotype, UPS; isotype: PRA).

Paratypes: China. Sichuan: "Sikang [西康], Taofu [道孚], Taining (Ngata)," H. Smith 11088 (PRA, UPS); H. Smith 12210 (PRA, UPS); H. Smith 12015 (CAS, UPS); H. Smith 11865 (UPS); H. Smith 11758 (UPS); H. Smith 11920 (UPS).

Plantae sexuales graciles foliis pinnatilobis usque profunde hamato-pinnatisectis, phyllariis involucralibus exterioribus lineari-triangularibus cornutis, viridibus usque atro-viridibus sparse ciliatis, ligulis apice conspicue denticulatis, stigmatibus virescentibus, acheniis colore variantibus, usque ad 3.5 mm longis, pyramide conica 0.4-0.8 mm longa.

Herbs 5-13 cm tall, delicate. Petiole pale green or sometimes pinkish, ± unwinged; leaf blade mid-green, narrowly oblanceolate in outline, 2-8 × 0.8-1.5(-2.3) cm, sparsely arachnoid, pinnatilobed to pinnatisect, midvein pale green or purplish; lateral lobes 2-5 pairs, variably shaped from hamate-triangular to linear-triangular, 2-13 mm, strongly recurved or rarely to ± patent, margin usually entire or rarely sparsely denticulate, apex ± obtuse; interlobes short, narrow, margin entire or with 1 or 2 minute teeth; terminal lobe narrowly helmet-shaped to lingulate, margin entire, apex subobtuse. Scapes brownish green, sparsely to densely arachnoid below capitulum. Capitulum 1.5-3 cm wide. Involucre 5-7 mm wide, base narrowly rounded to ± obconic. Outer phyllaries 13-18, green to blackish green, ± not imbricate, linear-lanceolate to linear-triangular, outermost ones (3-)5-8 × 0.9-1.5 mm and to 3/4 as long as inner ones, appressed to erect, border whitish green and ca. 0.2 mm or not visible, margin sparsely ciliate, with a horn 1-1.5 mm or corniculate below apex or sometimes apex flat; inner phyllaries green, 1-1.4 cm, apex flat to corniculate. Ligules (pale) yellow; outer ligules ± flat, outside striped grayish green to grayish purple; inner ligules with long apically blackish or yellow teeth. Stigmas green. Anthers polliniferous; pollen grains regular in size. Achene gray, straw-colored brown, yellowish, blackish brown, or brick red, 3-3.5 × 1-1.2 mm; body distally subsparsely spinulose, finely squamulose, or ± smooth below, subabruptly narrowing into a subconic 0.4-0.8(-1) mm cone; beak 6-7.5 mm. Pappus yellowish white, 4-5 mm. Fl. late summer. Sexual.

● Mountain grasslands, trail margins, open ground; 3000-3700 m. W Sichuan.

Taraxacum deludens is a variable sexual representative of T. sect. Emodensia. It is similar to T. maurocarpum and T. stenoceras. It differs from both in its sexual reproduction, from the former by darker stigmas and much shorter cone, and from the latter by much shorter achenes and cone.