Asteraceae

Scorzonera L.

First published in Sp. Pl.: 790 (1753)
This genus is accepted
The native range of this genus is Europe to Japan and W. Himalaya, Canary Is to N. Africa and Sahara.

Descriptions

Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. & Hind, D. J. N. (Eds). (2019). Flora of Iraq, Volume 6: Compositae.Kew Publishing

Morphology General Habit
Biennial or perennial herbs, more rarely annual or suffruticose, scapose to tall and leafy, rootstock stout and sometimes tuberous, basal part of stem sometimes with a scaly or fibrous collar formed of remains of previous years’ leaf-sheaths
Morphology Leaves
Leaves variable in form from linear and entire to broadly elliptic or ovate and toothed or deeply pinnatipartite
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula homogamous, ligulate; involucre narrowly cylindrical to broadly obconical; phyllaries multiseriate or occasionally sub-biseriate, imbricate; receptacle flat or slightly convex, epaleaceous
Morphology Leaves Ligules
Ligules yellow to pink or purplish, ± pilose at junction of tube and ray
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes glabrous to densely hairy, ribbed, smooth or ± rugose or transversely lamellate, or outer rugose and inner smooth, all ± cylindrical, with or without a hollow inflated base; pappus setae multiseriate, setae entirely plumose, plumose below and scabrid above or more rarely entirely scabrid.
Distribution
Perhaps about 150 species in Europe and temperate Asia, a few species extending to tropical SW Asia; 15 species in Iraq.
Etymology
Scorzonera (from the It. for S. hispanica L., the Black Salsify, derived from the It. scorza, skin or peel and nero, black, referring to the colour of the root of that species).
Note
An extremely difficult genus for the taxonomist because of the limited number of characters of proven systematic significance
[FIQ]

Sources

  • Flora of Iraq

    • Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. (Eds). (2013-2019). Flora of Iraq, Volumes 5.1, 5.2 and 6.0. Kew Publishing
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0