The genus Taraxacum in the subalpine and alpine areas in the Carpathians (Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, montane habitats in Czechia) is revised using newly collected material and old herbarium collections. Four Taraxacum sections are recognized, viz. T. sect. Crocea (= T. sect. Fontana), T. sect. Alpina, T. sect. Rhodocarpa (= T. sect. Alpestria) and a newly described T. sect. Oreodoxa Stepanek et Kirschner, a peculiar monotypic taxon with a single species, T. incredibile, confined to limestone ranges in northern Romania. There are 16 species in Slovakia, 7 in Poland, 5 in Ukraine and 11 in Romania; out of the 25 species adopted after the revision, 10 are newly described and 14 occur only in a single country. The study of the Taraxacum venustum group in the Carpathians revealed a new Romanian species, which is described, and another new species in theWestern Alps, which in the present paper is compared with the similar Bulgarian species, T. humifusum of T. sect. Bulgarica. Taraxacum venustum sensu lato is reported from the Eastern Carpathians, but further study is needed. Three species known from the Carpathians, T. crocelliforme, T. pawlowskii and T. hercynicum, are also recorded in the Alps. Endemism of dandelions in the Carpathians is analysed and compared with published data for other Carpathian plants and the neighbouring regions. Twenty-one species (of 25) are confined to the Carpathians, 17 are endemic to a single Carpathian region and most of them to the Western Carpathians. The main literature sources of Taraxacum records from the Carpathians are analysed in detail; numerous published records of Alpine species in the Carpathians were rejected. The seven names published by R. Doll from Slovakia were thoroughly revised, with four names accepted and three synonymized. Five names are lectotypified.

There has been a decrease in the ability of biologists to identify their material correctly, particularly plants of complicated genera with common agamospermy, where old clonal entities are accorded the rank of species (microspecies). Agamospermous microspecies are taxonomic entities recognizable from one another by a set of minute morphological features. The knowledge of microspecies is confined to a few specialists. Specialists use microspecies names but there could be inconsistencies in the taxonomic concepts used by different, geographically remote experts. A selection of nine widespread, generally recognized agamospermous microspecies of Taraxacum sect. Taraxacum, which are characterized by means of eight microsatellite loci, were used to evaluate the ability of four European Taraxacum specialists to identify these microspecies consistently. With two exceptions (and one unclear result) for 125 plants coming from an area extending from Finland to central Europe, the experts identified the microspecies consistently, exclusively on the basis of morphological differences. Another problem studied was within-species variation. The within-species microsatellite variation corresponded to the mutational clone cluster hypothesis, with a single unclear result. Each microspecies consisted of one, more or less dominant, clone and several minority clones, each usually confined to a single plant. A combination of the traditional microspecies identification by experts and the characterization of microspecies by a set of molecular markers opens the field of microtaxonomy to a wider group of researchers.

Für die Flora Deutschlands werden 14 neu aufgefundene Arten der Gattung Taraxacum (T. atroviride, T. breitfeldii, T. filidens, T. flavostylum, T. freticola, T. glossodon, T. heikkinenii, T. incisiforme, T. macrolobum, T. obnubilum, T. saxonicum, T. uncidentatum, T. violaceifrons, T. schroeterianum) mit Fundorten, Abbildungen und Beschreibung vorgestellt und kommentiert. Ferner werden weitere 22 bereits aus Deutschland bekannte (Buttler & Hand 2008), aber noch nicht in Uhlemann & al. (2005) enthaltene, oder aus verschiedenen Gründen zweifelhafte Arten besprochen: T. albulense, T. penelobum, T. atonolobum, T. capillosum, T. cordatum/T. paucisquameum, T. delectum, T. homoschistum, T. klingstedtii, T. leptoscelum, T. moldavicum, T. nothum, T. opertum, T. ottonis, T. praestabile, T. pseudohabile, T. roseopes, T. semilunare, T. subborgvallii, T. theodori, T. turgidum, T. urbicola und T. verticosum.

The genus Taraxacum is characterized by prevailing complex multiple hybridity, frequent polyploidy and widespread agamospermous reproduction, which makes the phylogenetic analysis difficult. On the basis of the previous analysis of the variation of nrDNA in Taraxacum taxa with different ploidy levels and modes of reproduction, to mitigate consequences of the reticulate complexity of the genus, a phylogenetic study of 52 samples of sexually reproducing dandelions of 26 sections (and another 13 agamospermous representatives of other sections known to include sexuals) was carried out. Both sexual and agamospermous samples were analysed using maximum parsimony and neighbour network. Exclusively sexual dandelions were analysed using the same approaches. In spite of the general agreement among various types of analyses, there is a limited overall congruence between results of nrDNA analyses and the established taxonomic system of the genus Taraxacum. The analyses shed light on the relationships among the most primitive groups. A stable clade is formed by representatives of the sections Primigenia, Orientalia, Sonchidium, Piesis and T. cylleneum. Another case of stable relationships is that of the members of the sect. Dioszegia. Relationships between the sects. Erythrosperma and Erythrocarpa were supported, and the relatedness of the members of sect. Australasica was confirmed. Rather unexpectedly, the agamospermous samples of the sect. Oligantha (T. minutilobum) are shown to be closely related with the sect. Macrocornuta. The latter section is generally considered to be close to sect. Ceratoidea (T. koksaghyz) on morphological grounds but this presumption is not corroborated by the results of nrDNA analyses. Analyses of 72 samples of sexual dandelions were also performed using the trnL–trnF region of the chloroplast DNA. The maximum parsimony analysis of this region reveals intraspecific variation in a number of ancestral diploid sexual species, all present in the two main branches of the cladogram. This phenomenon is attributed to the ancient gene flow and possibly to the persistence of ancestral cpDNA polymorphism. The strict consensus cpDNA tree information content and interpretability is quite low. The maximum parsimony analysis of combined nrDNA and cpDNA data sets was also performed with expectably low interpretability of the results.

Taraxacum veglianum, found on the Istrian peninsula and adjacent islands in the Adriatic part of the Mediterranean Sea, is described as a species new to science and illustrated, and its known distribution is given. It belongs to T. sect. Erythrosperma and has a chromosome number of 2n = 3x = 24.

Four new species of Taraxacum E H. WIGG. sect. Ruderalia KIRSCHNER, H. OLLGAARD & STEPANEK (Asteraceae-Cichorieae) are described: T capillosum H. OLLGAARD & UHLEMANN with an extraordinary dense indumentum is known from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Poland, T delectum UHLEMANN with recurved and bordered outer bracts occurs in Saxony (Germany), T ottonis UHLEMANN has irregular outer bracts and is also known from Saxony (Germany) and T sub-borgvallii UHLEMANN, STEPANEK & KIRSCHNER with a delicate habit and long, narrow, unwinged, purple petioles which is known from the eastern part of Germany and from the western part of Bohemia. All species belong to the section Ruderalia. A list of localities and specimens seen and the distribution maps are presented for each taxon.

Uhlemann, I.: New species of the genus Taraxacum (Asteraceae, Cichorieae) from Croatia [Notulae ad floram euro-mediterraneam pertinentes 23]. — Willdenowia 37: 115–121. — ISSN 0511-9618; © 2007 BGBM Berlin-Dahlem. doi:10.3372/wi.37.37105 (available via http://dx.doi.org/)Two new species of Taraxacum from Istria and adjacent islands, in the northeastern part of the Mediterranean, are described as new and illustrated. Both belong to Taraxacum sect. Erythrosperma and have a chromosome number of 2n = 3x = 24. Their known distribution is presented.

A survey of Taraxacum taxa described from Latin America is presented. Taraxacum sect. Antarctica is revised taxonomically. The plants usually classified as members of the section in the southernmost South America, often under several species names, proved to represent a single taxon, Taraxacum gilliesii . The species proved to be diploid with 2n=16, reproducing sexually, which is documented by tetrad formation in megasporogenesis. The sexual reproduction is responsible for the considerable variation in a number of the species’ characters. Full synonymy, notes on the nomenclature (including typification) and a description of the section and the species are also given. An analysis of plants often referred to as T. magellanicum from New Zealand is given. Plants from Australia and New Zealand were found to be sexual and belonging to a new section, T. sect. Australasica .