''Centaurea tchihatcheffii'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

. The flowers are most attractive as the pale or dark pinkish-red marginal florets (the most frequent colour form) take on an iridescent shimmer in the sun and wind, hence the vernacular name ''Yanardöner'', meaning ‘

iridescent Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstruc ...

flower’. It flowers from late April to mid-June and in cultivation even earlier, e.g., March in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. The peak flowering period is mid-May and in earlier years it was sold in some quantity by street florists in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. It is mainly bee-, bug- and beetle-pollinated. Ants play an important role in seed dispersal and the fully ripe fat achenes are a delight for pigeons which settle down to feed in large flocks. The species is of taxonomic interest as it has some rather unusual and unique features not existing in any other ''

Centaurea ''Centaurea'' () is a genus of over 700 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Members of the genus are found only north of the equator, mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere; the Middle East and surrounding ...

''. For example, the marginal florets are

funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

-shaped with crenate margins. The

anther The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

-tube is provided with glands at the tips of the

appendages An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part or natural prolongation that protrudes from an organism's body such as an arm or a leg. Protrusions from single-celled bacteria and archaea are known as cell-surface appendages or surface app ...

. Boissier (1875) established it as belonging to the genus ''Melanoloma'' Cass., proposing the combination ''Melanoloma tchihatchewi'' (Fischer & C.A. Meyer) Boiss. However, the type species of ''Melanoloma'' is ''Centaurea pullata'' which has no affinities at all with ''C. tchihatcheffii''. The species was placed in ''Centaurea'' sect.

Cyanus :''The plant genus Cyanus is nowadays included in Centaurea''. ''Cyanus'' is a genus of flies in the family Calliphoridae The Calliphoridae (commonly known as blowflies, blow flies, blow-flies, carrion flies, bluebottles, or greenbottles) a ...

(Mill.) W.D.J. Koch by Wagenitz (1975) and currently in ''Cyanus'' Mill. (''Cyanus tchihatcheffii'' (Fischer & C. A. Meyer) Wagenitz & Greuter. Three annual members of this section with which ''C. tchihatcheffii'' has a superficial resemblance are '' Centaurea cyanus'' L., the nomenclatural

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

, with the chromosome number of 2n = 24 (x = 12), ''Centaurea cyanoides'' Wahlenb. with 2n = 18 (x = 9) and '' Centaurea depressa'' M. Bieb. with 2n=16 (x=8), (Wagenitz and Hellwig 1996). However, ''C. tchihatcheffii'' has 2n=20, with x=10 (Gömürgen and Adigüzel 2001), the same number as occurring in the derived species of the perennial section C. sect. Protocyanus (Dobrocz.) Czerep. ''Centaurea tchihatcheffii'' Fischer & C.A. Meyer was first described in Ann. Sci. Nat. sér. 4, 1: 31 (1854). Tchihatcheff’s original material from his travels to

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

was deposited with the

Société botanique de France The Société botanique de France (SBF) is a French learned society founded on 23 April 1854. At its inaugural meeting it stated its purpose as "to contribute to the progress of botany and related sciences and to facilitate, by all means at its di ...

which collections were later included in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(P). As the novelties from

were described by Fischer & C.A. Meyer it would seem more likely that the specimens on which the descriptions were based were those duplicates sent to LE (thus potential holotypes) and not those remaining at P (part of the original set). Thus the holotype of ''Michauxia tchihatchewii'' Fischer & C.A. Meyer is stated as deposited in LE, and the late Jaakko Jalas (Helsinki) typified ''Thymus fallax'' with the specimen deposited at LE (holo. LE, fragm. W) and ''Thymus pectinatus'' collected by Tchihatcheff from the same locality as the ''Michauxia'', as holo.? LE; iso. W. However, only the fragments at W, not at LE, have been seen by Jalas.

References

*Tan K & Vural M. 2007. ''Centaurea tchihatcheffii'' Fischer & C.A. Meyer (Asteraceae), ''Pl. Syst. Evol.'' 263: 203 - 207. *Ozel CA, Khawar KM, Mirici S, Ozcan S, Arslan O. 2006. Factors affecting in vitro plant regeneration of the critically endangered Mediterranean knapweed (Centaurea tchihatcheffii Fisch et. Mey). Naturwissenschaften 93:511-517. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5059024 tchihatcheffii Endemic flora of Turkey