紫果蒲公英组 zi guo pu gong ying zu

Plants usually medium-sized, base without a tunic or with a few old petioles. Petiole unwinged or winged; leaf blade pinnatisect; lateral lobes few to numerous, usually triangular to narrow, margin often dentate or lobulate. Capitulum usually 3-4 cm wide. Outer phyllaries usually 12-20, lanceolate to broadly ovate, long, often imbricate, appressed, loosely appressed, or less often arcuate-recurved, usually distinctly broadly or narrowly bordered, apex usually corniculate or horned. Ligules yellow; floret tube glabrous. Achene red, reddish brown, brown, castaneous, or straw-colored brown, usually 4.3-5.5 mm; body usually densely spinulose above, usually subabruptly narrowing into a distinct cylindric 1-1.5 mm cone, spinules long and thin; beak usually 0.8-1.3 cm. Pappus ± white.

About 40 species: centered in the Mediterranean region and Iran; one species (endemic) in China.

The name Taraxacum tianschanicum Pavlov (Vestn. Akad. Nauk Kazakhsk. S.S.R. 8: 30. 1950) was published on the basis of the material from the southwesternmost Tian Shan and probably belongs to T. sect. Erythrocarpa. It was reported to occur in China (FRPS 80(2): 64. 1999). We failed to find any specimen of this taxon from China. Also, geographically the occurrence of T. tianschanicum in China is rather improbable.

Lower Taxon

• Taraxacum russum Kirschner & Štepánek