New taraxacum species identified in the Indian Himalayas, showing sexual reproduction, suggesting more complexity in these plants.
Taraxacum diluculorum Vik. Kumar, Kirschner & Štěpánek, a new species of T. sect. Emodensia is described from the alpine region of Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Himalayan Region. It is distinct in having white flowers, yellow stigmas, light reddish ochraceous achenes with a short cone and is characterized by sexual reproduction. It is related to T. sikkimense (T. sect. Emodensia), another white-flowered Himalayan species; the name T. sikkimense is second-step lectotypified. There is also a similarity of T. diluculorum with T. suavissimum and T. austrotibetanum of T. sect. Tibetana. However, it differs from these latter primarily in its uniform pollen size, sexuality, colour of stigma, and achene morphology. A detailed comparison and illustrations of T. diluculorum and similar species are provided.
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Kumar et al. (2025) studied this question.
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