1. Cirsium lipskyi Petrak (1911: 197).

Cnicus griffithii Hooker (1881: 363). Fig. 4.

Type: — CHINA. Tibet, Zayü County (originally as “ Upper Assam ”), Mishmi hills, Griffith s.n. (holotype: K000250090!). Fig. 1.

= Cirsium interpositum Petrak (1938: 283), syn. nov.

Type: — CHINA. Yunnan, Eryuan County, Ma chang kai valley (Majie), alt. 9000 ft., July 1913, G. Forrest 11749 (holotype: E00383888!, E00383889! [on two sheets]; isotype: PE00455820!, K!). Fig. 3.

Description: —Herbs 2–3 m tall, perennial. Stems erect, stout, branched in upper half, ribbed, unwinged, sparsely cobwebby. Basal leaves with petiole to 20 cm, leaf blade elliptic, ca. 60 × 25 cm, pinnatisect; segments 9–12 pairs, narrowly lanceolate, 10–16 × 2–3 cm, basally on both sides with 1 or 2 spiny teeth, fringed with 1–3 mm spinules, apex narrowed into a 1.5–2.5 cm spine. Upper cauline leaves similar but gradually decreasing upwards, sessile, semiamplexicaul with auricles bearing 2–4 cm spines. Bracts lanceolate to linear, smaller than upper leaves, fringed with 2–2.5 cm spines.All leaves discolorous, abaxially grayish white and densely tomenta, adaxially green, rough, and sparsely to densely spinulose. Capitula corymbose, racemose, or racemose-paniculate, nodding. Involucre campanulate, 2–3 cm in diam., glabrous. Phyllaries in ca. 10 rows, lacking wings and scarious appendage, imbricate arrangement, outer phyllaries much shorter than inner ones; outer and middle phyllaries triangular to lanceolate, 8–15 × 2.5–3 mm, apex narrowed into a 0.5–2 mm spinule; inner phyllaries lanceolate to linear, 1.5–2.3 × 0.2–0.3 cm, apex acuminate and scarious. Florets bisexual. Corolla yellow, ca. 3.5 cm, tube ca. 1.3 cm. Achene dark, ca. 5 mm. Pappus bristles brownish, ca. 1.8 cm.

Phenology: —Flowering from September to November.

Distribution and habitat: — Cirsium lipskyi is distributed in China (Tibet, Yunnan), Bhutan, India (Assam) and Myanmar. It grows in roadsides, forest edges and valleys at altitudes of 1440–2500 m.

Additional specimens examined:— CHINA. Tibet: Bomi, Tongmai, alt. 2210 m, 9 Nov. 2016, C . Liu et al. 16 CS11810 (KUN1462791); Bomi, Lulang, alt. 2500 m, 19 Sep. 1965, Y. T . Chang et K. Y. Lang 2794 (KUN0048371, PE00455825, PE00455826); Bomi, Tongmai, alt. 2250 m, 6 Sep. 1973, Qinghai-Xizang Exped. 73-1379 (KUN0048372, KUN0048373, PE00456822); Bomi, Tongmai, alt. 2100 m, 8 Sep. 1976, C. Y . Wu 5621 (KUN0048374, KUN0048375); Bomi, Yigong, alt. 2250 m, 9 Sep. 1980, C. C . Ni et al. 1550 (PE00455821, PE00455642); Bomi, Tongmai, alt. 2000 m, 5 Nov. 1975, Xizang Exped. 91 (PE00455823); Bomi, Tongmai, alt. 2210 m, 9 Nov. 2016, C . Liu et al. 16 CS11810 (KUN1452075); Mêdog, alt. 1900 m, 28 Oct. 1992, H . Sun et al. 0926 (KUN0048892); Mêdog, 29 Nov. 1993, H . Sun et al. 3173 (KUN0048893). Yunnan: Gongshan, alt. 2100–2200 m, 1 Sep. 1940, K. M . Feng 7254 (KUN0048358, PE00455816, PE00455813); Gongshan, 18 Oct. 1940, K. M . Feng 8588 (KUN0048359, KUN0048360, KUN0048361, PE00455819); Gongshan, alt. 1900–2100 m, 3 Sep. 1982, Qinghai-Xizang Exped. 9837 (KUN0048363); Gongshan, alt. 1600 m, 15 Dec. 1990, Exped. Dulongjiang 1060 (KUN0048364, KUN0048365); Gongshan, alt. 1500 m, 10 Jan. 1991, Exped. Dulongjiang 1825 (KUN0048366); Gongshan, alt. 1445 m, 20 Nov. 1990, Exped. Dulongjiang 2009 (KUN0048367, KUN0048368); Gongshan, alt. 1550 m, 22 Nov. 1990, Exped. Dulongjiang 2147 (KUN0048369, KUN0048370); Gongshan, alt. 2000 m, Oct. 1935, C. W . Wang 66994 (KUN0048678, PE00607978); Gongshan, alt. 2127 m, 14 Sep. 2018, H . Li 533324180914885 LY (SABG010009).— BHUTAN: Lhuntshi district, Rudo La, East side, alt. 7000 ft, 5 Oct. 1949, F . Ludlow, G. Sherriff & J. H. Hicks 21254 (BM000035468, BM000035469, E00463847); Paro district, Jangsa, 3 Oct. 1919, alt. 8000 ft, R. E . Cooper 2289 (E00463844); Tongsa district, 2 km of Shamgong, alt. 1950 m, 1982, A. J. C . Grierson & D. G. Long 4196 (E00463846); Shemgang, Km 134 Shemgang-Tongsa, alt. 1770 m, 13 Sep. 1987, Bigger 3009 (E00463849).— MYANMAR: Kachin State, Nam Tamai valley (Adung Wang), Anonymous 1342 (BM000050107).— INDIA: Assam, Kohima, Naga Hills, alt. 5000 ft, 11 Sep. 1950, W. N . Koelz 26165 (L3696683).

Notes: — Cirsium interpositum Petrak was described on the basis of one collection, G. Forrest 11749 (E, K, PE, Fig. 3), from Eryuan County, Yunnan Province, China. Cirsium lipskyi Petrak is a replacement name of Cnicus griffithii Hooker, which was described on the basis of one collection, Griffith s.n. (K, Fig. 1), from Mishmi hills, Zayü County, Tibet, China. In Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae and Flora of China, Cnicus griffithii is treated as a synonym of Cirsium interpositum, but Cirsium lipskyi was ignored (Shih 1987; Shi & Greuter 2011). In Flora of India (Hajra 1995), Cirsium lipskyi is treated as a synonym of Cirsium interpositum. Comparing the type specimens of Cirsium interpositum and Cnicus griffithii, we found that they were identical in important characters, but there are some differences in the density of spinules of leaves abaxially. However, through field investigation and inspection of specimens (Fig. 1, 2, 3), we found that this trait has a continuous variation from dense to sparse among different individuals and in the same plant; the spinules on the abaxial leaf surface at the basal leaves may be sparser than those on the upper leaves (Fig. 4 G, H). Therefore, we consider that Cirsium interpositum, Cnicus griffithii and Cirsium lipskyi should be the same species and support the treatment of Hajra (1995). Regrettably, in the Flora of India, the publication year of Cirsium interpositum is wrongly written as 1838, so Cirsium interpositum is regarded as the accepted name and Cirsium lipskyi is treated as its synonym (Hajra 1995). By checking their protologues, Cirsium interpositum was published in 1938, while Cirsium lipskyi was published in 1911. According to Shenzhen Code (Turland et al. 2017), Cirsium lipskyi is the legitimate early name of this species and C. interpositum should be a synonym of it.