58 research outputs found
A new species of Isatis (Brassicaceae) from the Pollino National Park (Basilicata, S Italy)
A new species, Isatis raimondoi (Brassicaceae) is described from Mt Alpi in the Pollino National Park (Basilicata, Southern Italy). Its relationships with the other species of Isatis occurring in Italy are examined
A new species within the Centaurea busambarensis complex (Asteraceae, Cardueae) from Sicily
The Centaurea busambarensis group is made up by eight species endemic to Sicily. We statistically evaluated a population found on the Nebrodi Mountain (NE Sicily) to verify if the observed morphological differences with the already known taxa justified the description of a new one. It resulted in being sufficiently distinct to deserve recognition at the species level.Centaurea valdemonensis, a new species endemic to Sicily is described and illustrated here. It is confined to the Nebrodi Mountains (NE Sicily). The distinction of this taxon from the others belonging to the C. busambarensis complex has been supported with the aid of statistical analyses on morphological characters. The differences with the related taxa are discussed
Taxonomic remarks on Isatis tinctoria (Brassicaceae) from Pollino National Park (Basilicata, Italy)
Isatis L. (Brassicaceae) is an Eurasian genus including 79 species (1). It is one of the most difficult
cruciferous genera (2). Some species, in fact, are highly polymorphic in fruit morphology, the structures that
provide the most diagnostic characters (3). In addition, due to the extreme variability in all morphological
characters, the limits of many species are uncertain (4). Most if not all diagnostic characters used in earlier
classifications are very variable and because of the unreliability of vegetative and floral characters it is
difficult or impossible to identify many specimens when mature fruits are missing (5). The patterns of
variation suggest that hybridisation may be widespread (4). Moreover, intermediate specimens are rather
frequent, even between some taxa that are morphologically easily recognisable (4). In Italy, according to
Conti & al. (6), Isatis is represented by 3 species: I. apennina Grande (= I. allioni P.W.Ball), endemic to
Italy and France (south-west Alps and central Apennine), I. praecox Kit., an European taxon restricted to
Lombardia, and I. tinctoria L., an Asiatic species widespread in central and south Italy. Floristic
investigations in the Pollino National Park (on the Lucanian side) led to the discovery of a little population
referable to I. tinctoria. However, a comparative study of the plants showed that they differ in many relevant
characters. The fact that this Lucanian population has morphological dissimilarities involves its critical
revision that could bring to a new taxonomic delimitation
Mediterranean plant karyological data
For the first time, the chromosome number was determined for 5 species of the genus Pyrus L. (Rosaceae) from Armenia, viz. P. daralaghezii, P. hyrcana var. yeghegisi, P. medvedevii, P. oxiprion, P. takhtadzhianii, and the previous count of chromosome number for P. caucasica was confirmed. All the explored species have a diploid chromosome number 2n = 34 with the basic chromosome number x = 17.This study has been funded by the projects Proyectos Intramurales Especiales (202330E114) and Functional and evolutionary insights into reproductive biology: the capitulum of Asteraceae as a model system (COMPOSITAE) (PID2020-116480GB-100), and by the Catalan government (2021SGR00315)Introduction
Materials and methods
Results and discussio
Chromosome numbers for the Italian flora: 13
In this contribution, new chromosome data obtained on material collected in Italy are presented. It includes the first count for Dianthus carthusianorum subsp. tenorei, Helosciadium nodiflorum, Hieracium hypochoeroides subsp. cilentanum, H. lesimanum, H. scopolioides, H. terraccianoi. In addition, first Italian counts for Crupina vulgaris, Damasonium alisma, and Illecebrum verticillatum are reported
Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 5.
In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records and confirmations to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Allium, Arabis, Campanula, Centaurea, Chaerophyllum, Crocus, Dactylis, Dianthus, Festuca, Galanthus, Helianthemum, Lysimachia, Milium, Pteris, and Quercus. Nomenclature and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as supplementary material
Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 11
In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1
The use of herbarium specimens in evaluating plant extinction risks: some considerations on Sicilian endemics
Herbarium specimens provide verifiable and citable evidence of the occurrence of plant taxa at a given place
and time. Thus they caΩn be used to identify native ranges, and document which plants are occurring, and
where, through time. They provide information on rare, extirpated, or extinct species that can no longer be
found in nature. Furthermore, they can serve as a means of locating rare or possibly extinct species,
recollecting in the area(s) reported on labels. Thus, herbarium specimens can be used as primary sources of
data to have evidence-based extinction risk assessments.
Each extinction risk assessments is an evidence-based hypothesis of the current level of extinction risk of a
particular taxon, to be refined, updated, corrected or refused, if more specimens are discovered, or when the
scientific identification of one or more specimens is updated in light of new knowledge.
Some data are available from herbarium labels, but often they have to be retrieved ad hoc. Most specimen
databasing projects aim at including metadata, as coarse-level geographical information, latitude and
longitude coordinates (when available), collector name, collection number, date. Finally, the information
absent in the label but gleaned directly from the specimen or the label is rarely included in major databases.
Spatial data is certainly the herbarium-derived information most widely applied to extinction risk
assessments.
Specimens collected less than 30 years old include often latitude and longitude coordinates, providing a best
estimate of the collection site. Older specimens are less likely to include coordinates, but latitude and
longitude can usually be retrieved from the textual locality information on the specimen. Temporal data are
often present on herbarium specimens in the form of collection dates (even if only year for some older
specimens) and are usually captured in digitization initiatives. These data are useful for inferring the
existence of a particular plant at a particular period. Population size is rarely documented on herbarium
labels, aside from generalized descriptions e.g., ‘rare’, ‘common’, ‘100 specimens are to be collected’, which
are of use as supporting evidence, but not directly applicable to the criteria.
The main problem with Mediterranean collections is the reduced number of data available in order to make
statistical analysis. This happens also with endemics that are usually over-sampled. The combined use of
large and local collections, both modern and historical, can be of help. In addition, the presence of a taxon in
a herbarium collection or in a floristic list rarely provides information about the number of individuals
occurring in the locality. However, herbarium specimens are more reliable in comparison with bibliographic
references, because their identification can be checked. The study of historical herbarium specimens can give
some indications on their native status, as for Astragalus thermensis Vals., Ipomoea stolonifera (Cirillo)
J.F.Gmel., and Centaurea acaulis L. in Sicily and help in distinguishing if they need to be protected or can
be considered aliens.
Herbarium studies can be very informative for species with wide distribution that are more easily prone to
local extinctions, as for instance Anacamptis palustris (Jacq.) R.M.Bateman, Pridgeon & M.W.Chase. For
narrow endemics, there are more problems. For some taxa, their distribution has decreased since their
description, as for Erica sicula Guss. subsp. sicula and Adenostyles alpina subsp. nebrodensis (Wagenitz &
I.Müll.) Greuter. For some others, their distribution is increased as for Orobanche chironii Lojac. and
Petagnaea gussonei (Spreng.) Rauschert. These cases does not represent actual enlargements of distribution,
but just an increase in knowledge. For O. chironii, the new localities have been found in conservative
environments and in protected areas, so that is was possible to reduce the risk category to which these plants
are assigned; for P. gussonei, the new localities were found in human-modified and threatened environments,
increasing the level of attention required for conservation
Hieracium murorum subsp. atrovirens (Froel.) Raimondo & Di Grist. comb. & stat. nov. in GREUTER & RAAB-STRAUBE (ed.), Euro+Med Notulae, 3 Ce (Notulae ad floram euro-mediterraneam pertinentes 25)
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