21. Taraxacum sect. Dissecta Soest, Proc. Kon. Ned. Akad. Wetensch. C, 69: 377. 1966.
多裂蒲公英组 duo lie pu gong ying zu
Early vernal small plants, base with a tunic. Petiole unwinged; leaf blade arachnoid, deeply lobed, lateral lobes patent or recurved. Scapes arachnoid. Involucre with rounded base, usually 7-10 mm wide. Phyllaries with apex flat and not corniculate or rarely slightly callose; outer phyllaries 10-16, imbricate or not so, appressed to patent, with a distinct paler border, margin ciliate. Florets yellow; stigma discolored. Outer and inner phyllaries flat, without corniculation at apex, rarely slightly callose. Achene grayish straw-colored brown, brown, or red, densely spinulose above, 3-4.4 × 0.7-0.9 mm; body subabruptly or ± abruptly narrowing into a cylindric to conic-subcylindric 0.5-0.9 mm cone; beak 6-9 mm. Pappus white.
About ten species: widespread from E Kazakhstan, S Siberia, and Mongolia to NW China; one species (endemic) in China.
Taraxacum sect. Dissecta is usually referred to under the name T. dissectum (Ledebour) Ledebour, which is an agamospermous species of C Siberia and the Baical Lake region of Russia, probably not reaching China. Another species of this section, also reported to occur in China, is T. compactum Schischkin (Sist. Zametki Mater. Gerb. Krylova Tomsk. Gosud. Univ. Kuybysheva 1949(1-2): 5. 1949). It is known to occur in the Russian Altai and might be found in NW Xinjiang, but it has not been authoritatively identified in the Chinese material. Taraxacum collinum Candolle (Prodr. 7: 149. 1838) is an agamospermous species widespread in the Irkutsk region of Russia, and it might reach NE China (reported to occur in China by Tzvelev, Sosud. Rast. Sovetsk. Dal’nego Vostoka 6: 398. 1992; Krasnikov, Fl. Sibir. 13: 277. 1997). However, no material of this taxon was observed in the herbarium material studied.
