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

Beyond the Scent: New Evidence about Micromorphological, Phytochemical and Biological Features of Plumeria rubra ‘Tonda Palermitana’ (Apocynaceae)

Plumeria rubra L. is an ornamental Caribbean plant widely known for its ethnobotanical uses and pharmacological activities. The ‘Tonda Palermitana’ cultivar, on which no data are to date available, is commonly cultivated in Sicily. The aim of our study was to characterize the micro-morphological features of leaves and flowers of this cultivar by light and Scanning Electron Microscopy and to investigate the phytochemical profile and the biological properties of their foodgrade extracts (LE and FE, respectively) by LC-DAD-ESI-MS analysis and different in vitro assays. Numerous branched laticifers were observed, and their secretion contained alkaloids and lipophilic compounds as confirmed by histological analyses. Phytochemical analyses showed the presence of alkaloids (9%), terpenoids (13%) and fatty acids (6%), together with a very abundant presence of iridoids (28%) and polyphenols (39%). The most notable biological activity of both extracts appears to be the antioxidant one, showing half-inhibitory concentrations (IC50) about 5 times lower than those detected in anti-inflammatory assays (383.74 ± 5.65 and 232.05 ± 2.87 vs. 1981.23 ± 12.82 and 1215.13 ± 10.15, for FE and LE, respectively), with LE showing the best, and statistically significant (p < 0.001), biological activity. These results allow us to speculate promising nutraceutical and cosmeceutical applications for this old Sicilian cultivar

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

New Alien Plant Taxa for Italy and Europe: An Update

Abstract: Despite the wide amount of scientific contributions published on alien plant species, their diffusion dynamics, and their interactions with native taxa, it is increasingly difficult to slow down their spreading and their negative impact on habitats. Last recent years, in fact, a sharp rise in the number of new alien plant taxa introduced in Italy and Europe has been recorded. The aim of this work is to investigate most of the Italian territory in order to verify whether this alarming trend is still underway. Specimen collections and/or observations of alien plants have been performed in as many as 12 Italian regions. All the collected specimens are stored in public or private herbaria. Taxa have been identified according to the literature from the countries of origin of the investigated taxa, while the nomenclature followed the current international references. Updates on 106 taxa are reported. In particular, among 117 new records, 89 are first records, 27 are changes to status and there is 1 extinction. Seven new taxa for Italian alien flora are reported, two of which are new to Europe. The administrative regions with the highest number of records are Calabria (48), Sardegna (17) and Sicilia (15). Five of the surveyed taxa, for the first time, have been considered invasive aliens to Italian territory. The unfrequent amount of original results provided by this work, over the simple importance of data itself, proves how floristic investigation, still today, represents one of the most effective tools in broadening the current knowledge about alien taxa and their dynamics

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