Panarctic Flora

863601 Scorzoneroides autumnalis (L.) Moench

• Moench, Methodus: 549 (1794). - Leontodon autumnalis L., Sp. Pl.: 798 (1753). Lectotype (LINN): Europe. Herb. Linn. 953.8 (Sell in Jarvis and Turland 1998: 364).
• Hieracium taraxaci L., Sp. Pl., ed. 2, 2: 1125 (1763). Lectotype (LINN): Sweden: Pite lappmark. Herb. Linn. 954.4, leg. Solander (Jonsell in Jarvis 2007: 574). - Leontodon autumnalis var. taraxaci (L.) Hartm., Handb. Skand. Fl., ed. 4: 252 (1843).
• Apargia pratensis Hornem., Hort. Bot. Hafn. 2: 785 (1815). Internal note: Type information lacking. - Leontodon pratensis (Hornem.) Rchb., Fl. Germ. Excurs. 1: 253 (1831). - Leontodon autumnalis var. pratensis (Hornem.) W.D.J. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. Helv.: 418 (1837). - Leontodon autumnalis subsp. pratensis (Hornem.) Gremli, Excursionsfl. Schweiz, ed. 3: 242 (1878). - Scorzoneroides autumnalis var. pratensis (Hornem.) P.D. Sell, Fl. Great Brit. Irel. 4: 531 (2006). - Scorzoneroides autumnalis subsp. pratensis (Hornem.) Elven, J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 443 (2008), non (Link) Holub (1978) comb. illeg., see notes.

2n= (1) 12 (2x). - Europe (N, W, C), Russia, Far East, Canada (E), Greenland. - Numerous reports, e.g., 29 counts from southern Sweden alone. For alpine plants in northern Europe: Knaben and Engelskjøn (1967); Lövkvist and Hultgård (1999).
(2) 24 (4x). - Europe (Finland). - Vaarama in Löve and Löve (1948); Sorsa (1963b).

Geography: Amphi-Atlantic (E) - European - Asian (W): ICE NOR RUS SIB** GRL*.

Notes: Sekretareva (1999) considered the species adventive in arctic Russia but we assume that it must be native on the Murman coast.

The alpine and northern plants of Scorzoneroides autumnalis in Fennoscandia are distinct in, e.g., their nearly undivided leaves (vs. deeply and sometimes twice divided in the lowland plants), scapes with mostly single capitula (vs. two or more), and involucral bracts with shaggy black hairs (vs. with yellowish or almost no hairs). It might merit some recognition. It is not only a modification as evident from its casual occurrences also at lower altitudes, sometimes in mixed stands with the nominal race, and its absence (as far as we know) from the Greenland material. Its name at rank of subspecies is, however, problematic as is the fact that the characters combine differently in the plants in Iceland and Greenland. In Iceland, large parts of the population have the black, shaggy involucral pubescens of the Scandinavian alpine plants but the deeply dissected leaves and the multi-head scapes of the Scandinavian lowland plants. The Greenland plants partly resemble the Scandinavian alpine plants but have pale involucral pubescence. They are, however, assumed to be adventive.

Finch and Sell (1976) identified the alpine Scandinavian plant with Leontodon autumnalis subsp. pratensis (Hornem.) Gremli. We have not been able to confirm that Hornemann's Apargia pratensis refer to our mountain plant. We would rather base a name on Linnaeus' name Hieracium taraxaci which obviously belongs to this plant. In addition to Scandinavia, it occurs in arctic Russia, at least in the Murman area according to the collections we have seen, but has not been accepted as a taxon by the majority of Russian authors.

There is already a combination of Scorzoneroides autumnalis subsp. pratensis Holub, Severoceskou Prir. 89, 2: 120 (1978), based on Apargia pratensis Link, Handbuch 1: 791 (1829), non Hornem. (1815). This prevents our subsp. pratensis based on Hornemann's name. However, we are not sure whether the previous combination Leontodon autumnalis subsp. pratensis Gremli 1878 (based on the Horneman basionym) invalidates Scorzoneroides autumnalis subsp. pratensis Holub 1978 (based on the Link basionym).

In view of the regional variation in the morphological patterns, we provisionally refrain from acceptance of races.