Abstract
Cirsium rubricorollatum (Asteraceae), a new species from Gansu, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to C. handelii in having nodding capitula and a campanulate involucre, but differs in its elliptic (vs. lanceolate) cauline leaves, pinnatipartite (vs. pinnatilobed or pinnatifid) leaf blades, lanceolate to narrowly triangular (vs. semiorbicular lateral or broadly triangular) lobes, outer and middle phyllaries bearing apical spines ca. 3 mm long (vs. ca. 5 mm long), and filiform (vs. non-filiform) corolla tubes. The new species is also similar to C. pendulum in terminal racemose-paniculate synflorescences, nodding capitula, and campanulate involucre, but differs in having leaf segments with unequally sized triangular teeth along the margins (vs. segments deeply or shallowly lobed on one side only, with the opposite side entire), and corolla tubes equaling the limbs in length (vs. ca. 1.5 times longer than the limbs). Phylogenetic analyses further support the recognition of C. rubricorollatum as a distinct species.
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