The taxonomy of Cephalaria sect. Atrocephalae in Iran has some problems to resolve. In present revision, the section represents 16 species of which 4 are described here as new to science, namely C. chaldoranensis, C. golestanica, C. qeydarensis and C. torbatejamensis. Cephalaria sublanata and C. subindivisa are restored from synonyms of C. microcephala. The variety of C. microcephala is elevated to the species rank as C. integerrima. In addition, lectotypes are designated for C. juncea, C. integerrima, C. subindivisa and C. sublanata. Furthermore, C. tchihatchewii is excluded from Iran. Finally, a key, distribution maps and photographs for all Iranian species of the section are provided.
