Stipa saikanica Kotukhov (1998b: 10)

14. Stipa saikanica Kotukhov (1998b: 10) View in CoL . Type citation:—Saur-Tarbagataj, praemontia boreali-occidentalia jugi Saikan, locus Akseir, denudationes argillarum tertiariarum (in gypsaceis), partitiones glareoso-argillosae, 9 VI 1992, Ju. Kotuchov (LE)

Type (original label):— Stipa saikanica Kotuch sp. nov., Tip: Saur-Tarbagatai, sev.-zap. predgor’ya khr. Saikan, urochishche Akseir, obnazheniya tretichnyh glin (pestrotsvety), galechno-glinistye uchastki, 9 VI 1992, Yu. Kotukhov ( lectotype LE! designated here, isolectotypes KRA 436036!, KUZ! 2 sheets, LE! 2 sheets).

Original material (type) of this species at LE consists of five specimens from a single gathering mounted on two sheets. A third sheet of the taxon with the same label was determined by N. Tzvelev as S. kamelinii . Additionally, three sheets with original specimens of this taxon (not mentioned in the description) are preserved at KUZ and KRA. Because the holotype was not indicated by the author, we designate a sheet containing three specimens as the lectotype.

Kotukhov (1998b) distinguished Stipa saikanica from S. lessingiana by a shorter anthecium (7–8 vs. 9–11 mm long), and shorter awn (12–14 vs. 20–26 cm long). However, specimens from the type collection have a longer anthecium (up to 9 mm long) and somewhat longer awns ( 12–15 cm long). In our opinion, specimens of S. saikanica look like young (not fully developed) S. lessingiana . Moreover, as a widely distributed species, S. lessingiana is characterized by greater variability in the length of anthecia ( 8.5–11.5 mm long) and awns ((14–)17–22(–26) cm long) than was stated by Kotukhov (1998b). Thus, we treat S. saikanica as conspecific with S. lessingiana .