Saussurea × media (Asteraceae), a new natural hybrid between S. parviflora and S. controversa

Saussurea × media Yusupovsky and E.Pjak (Asteraceae), a new nothospecies from the Altai‐Sayan Mountains, is described and illustrated. In this study, we sequenced the internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA and the chloroplast intergenic spacers rsp16‐trnQ and ycf4‐cemA to verify the hypothesis of hybridization between Saussurea parviflora and Saussurea controversa , two common species in the aforementioned area belonging to the section Saussurea . The results provide evidence for the natural hybridization between these species and for the hybrid origin of the morphologically intermediate individuals. Saussurea × media can be distinguished from the parental species by involucre size (4–5 mm in diameter versus 3.5–4.0 mm in S. parviflora and 7–10 mm in S. controversa ), leaf colour and pubescence (abaxially greyish green, arachnoid tomentose versus abaxially pale green, glabrous or rarely sparsely pubescent in S. parviflora and abaxially white and densely arachnoid lanate in S. controversa ).