Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1996, Side 81

The red-leaved Faroese dandelion,
Taraxacum rubifolium Rasmussen
85
Hans Øllgaard
Lupinstien 7, Birgittelyst, DK - 8800 - Viborg, Denmark
Úrtak
Listi er gjørdur yvir tey serligu merkini á reyðu várhaga-
sóljuni, Taraxacum rubifolium, sum gera, at vit kenna
hana aftur. Misvísandi latínska heitið má varðveitast.Til
at lýsa plantuna er eitt eintak av slagnum valt burtur úr
tilfarinum. Viðmerkingar eru um søguna hjá T. rubifoli-
um og útbreiðslu hennara.
Abstract
The specific recognition marks of Taraxacum rubifoli-
um are listed. The misleading Latin name must be main-
tained. The species is lectotypified here. Some notes
about the history and present distribution of T. rubifoli-
um are given.
Description
Taraxacum rubifolium is unique in the
genus Taraxacum in having brownish red,
glossy leaves. It is a clear member of Tara-
xacum section Spectabilia because of un-
winged petioles, adpressed broadly lanceo-
late outer involucral bracts, large achenes
(fruits) with a very short cone and a com-
paratively short rostrum. The fully flowe-
ring capitulum is lax, ca. 45 mm in diame-
ter, with a plane profile, the outermost
flower ligules are striped red beneath. The
anthers produce no pollen. The stigmas are
discoloured.
One of its closest relatives, common in
the Faroes, is T.faeroense (Dahlst.) Dahlst.,
which, however, differs in having slightly
bluish grey-green lustreless leaves with dis-
persed dark violet spots.
Latin name
When Rasmussen described Taraxacum
rubifolium he clearly intended to name it
after its red leaves (Faroese: Reyð Vár-
hagasólja). His original spelling ‘rubifoli-
um', used both in literature and on herbari-
um labels, means »with leaves like Rubus«.
Even if the spelling ‘rubrifolium' would
agree better with Rasmussen’s intention no
change can be made here without affecting
the authority and publication date of the
taxon, according to the intemational rules
for botanical nomenclature (ICBN).
History
T. rubifolium was detected by the Faroese
botanist Rasmus Rasmussen, along streets
through a meadow area about 1 km SW of
Tórshavn town center (about 62°00’15"N;
6°46’50"W), between Álaker and Heyggin
Mikla/Haraldstrøð, first in 1909 (Ras-
mussen, 1952a), without voucher speci-
men. Recognizing the species as a special-
ty, Rasmussen in July 1938 sent achenes
Fróðskaparrit 44. bók 1996: 85-88