The status of Orobanche crenata in Sicily and preliminary observations on Orobanche crenata susceptibility in Vicia faba

Since more than 10 years we are recording Orobanche crenata populations variations and testing traditional remedies to assess their applicability in a low impact agriculture that may be applied also in developing countries. Starting from the observation that often in C Sicily dense fields of Broadbean show lower Broomrape infestation, we did some preliminary observations on Orobanche crenata susceptibility in Vicia faba var. faba and Vicia faba var. equina with different agricultural techniques. First results show a higher resistance of the latter sowed at higher densities

The discovery of plant biodiversity by children through the animated movies: Alice in Wonderland

The discovery of biodiversity in childs occurs through various channels: either through direct contact with the outside world, and indirectly through paintings, games and the media. Since 1937, Walt Disney Animation Studios realized animated movies inspired from novels. The first feature film was \u201cSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs\u201d. Since this, Disney\u2019s studios realized more than 10 dozen movies. The feature that distinguishes these works from a technical point of view is the attention to detail especially for the scene where the action takes place. Animals are often the protagonists of these stories, rarely plants. A good example of the latter is in \u201cAlice in wonderland\u201d, a movie distributed in 1951 that tells the story of the discovery by Alice of an unmusical, fantasy-filled world beyond her imagination populated by odd human and plant and animal characters. The plot of this film is taken from \u201cAlice's Adventures in Wonderland\u201d, an 1865 novel written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll with several inclusions of the sequel \u201cThrough the Looking-Glass\u201d another novel by the same Lewis Carroll, published in 1871. Both are novels full of symbolism, mathematical allusions and satire and contain the customs of England in the Victorian Age. Alice, in the real and in in her imaginary world, moves within scenarios in which plants are the main background. But it happens in the scene in which Alice is in the flower garden that flowers come alive and become characters of the story. This scene is inspired by the second chapter of the \u201cThrough the Looking- Glass\u201d titled \u201cThe garden of live flowers\u201d. In the novel, Alice comes up a hill along a winding path, that houses a flower garden populated by daisies, a weeping willow, a lily, a rose, a larkspur and a violet. The real work of exaltation of plant biodiversity is made in the film by Walt Disney where in a scene of about 5 minutes more than 20 flowers are presented. In the scene are clearly identifiable: Bellis perennis, Cestrum elegans, Chrysanthemum indicum, Convallaria majalis, Cyclamen persicum, Delphinium sp., Hyancinthoides non-scripta, Ipomoea violacea, Iris germanica, Leucanthemum 7superbum, Leucanthemum vulgare, Lilium candidum, L. davidii, Narcissus incomparabilis, N. pseudonarcissus, Nelumbo nucifera, Ranunculus asiaticus, Rosa indica, Salix babylonica, Syringa vulgaris, Taraxacum sect. Taraxacum, Viola odorata, V. 7wittrockiana and Zinnia sp. It is a real triumph of sounds and colours that leave the spectator delighted. The theme of the plants between knowledge and representation has been the subject of international meetings and scientific contributions. Studies about the representation of plants in pre-Christian (1), during the Middle Ages and in European art of the XIV - XVII have been done (2). In our case the plants drawn in Alice in Wonderland seems to belong more to the plants cultivated in the Americans gardens of during 1950\u2019s, when the film was made, rather than to the English gardens of the Victorian era where the novel is set. Nevertheless these drawings approach children, and the adults accompanying them in the vision, to the biodiversity of flowering plants cultivated. Offering to the spectator a wide representation of plants commonly grown with their shape and colours. Certainly, "Alice in wonderland" is a good example of how even cartoons, such as fairy tales, can play an educational role, as they allow the child to learn while having fun. In particular, this cartoon can be a good teaching tool for knowledge of plant biodiversity. In fact, it can provide many ideas for developing a number of educational activities to be proposed in both the kindergarten and in the primary school, intended to make understand even the youngest children the meaning and the value of plant biodiversity, as well as to know some plants and their growth environments. Therefore, it would be desirable in the future to take into account such aspects, uncommon in animated films for children. In consideration of the now urgent need to fill several gaps of knowledge, widespread in the younger generation (3) in respect of the plants and the environment in general

Taxonomy and conservation in Higher Plants and Bryophytes in the Mediterranean Area

The Mediterranean Region is among the areas of the world richest in wild and cultivated taxa. Extinctions in the Mediterranean area are bound to have occurred in historical times but they are not documented. The probable and documented cases of plant extinction in specific areas within the Mediterranean are equivalent to 0.25% of total species-by-area records. Species with a large range are more prone to local population size fluctuations and eventual extinction than species with a reduced population. Small islands floras are more prone to extinction than those on large islands and on the mainland. Reliability of our data on Mediterranean plant extinctions is poor. New emphasis on floristic research is needed to boost our deficient knowledge of the Mediterranean flora. A closer collaboration between scholars and amateurs can increase floristic knowledge and also help unravel taxonomic problems

First results on the phenotypic analysis of wild and cultivated species of Pyrus in Sicily

Phenotypic analysis of Pyrus in Sicily using a set of 19 characters on 71 accessions belonging to 7 species is here reported. Results show a high level of morphological variation in this genus. Cluster analysis of the morphological characters allows to identify two groups: the first closely related to wild pears and the latter related to P. communis s. l. and P. sicanorum. It is likely to think that many Ethno-Varieties, usually attributed to P. communis, on the contrary are attributable to wild Sicilian pears and belong to indigenous germplasm

Nomenclatural synopsis of cirsium sect. Eriolepis (asteraceae) in Italy

The names of the Italian taxa in Cirsium sect. Eriolepis are discussed. The accepted names are: Cirsium echinatum, C. eriophorum subsp. eriophorum, C. eriophorum subsp. spathulatum, C. ferox, C. italicum, C. lacaitae, C. lobelii, C. morisianum, C. scabrum, C. tenoreanum, C. vallis-demonii subsp. vallis-demonii, C. vallis-demonii subsp. calabrum comb. nov., and C. vulgare (= C. crinitum, C. sylvaticum). Four accepted names are typified by specimens preserved at FI (one lectotype), G (one lectotype and one neotype), P (one lectotype), and by illustrations (two lectotypes). Several other heterotypic synonyms of taxa described from Italy are discussed and six of them are typified. A new combination and status are proposed: C. vallis-demonii subsp. calabrum, based on C. eriophorum var. vallisdemonii f. calabrum

Typification and taxonomic remarks on five species names in Cytisus (Fabaceae)

This paper deals with the typification and taxonomy of five Mediterranean Cytisus species. Cytisus affinis, C. candidus, and C. spinescens nom. illeg., non Sieber ex Spreng. were described from Sicily by Karel Borivoj Presl, Cytisus spinescens was described from Apulia (southern Italy) by Curt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel, and C. villosus was described from southern France by Pierre Andre Pourret (1788). Lectotypes are here designated for Presl and Sprengel's names. A neotype is designated for C. villosus. The taxonomic revision of these five names confirmed that C. villosus Pourr. (= Cytisus affinis C. Presl) is the name to be used for the species occurring in the large part of the Mediterranean countries. Cytisus spinescens Sieber ex Spreng. (≡ C. candidus C. Presl = C. spinescens C. Presl, nom. illeg.) is the correct name for the amphi-adriatic species occurring in peninsular Italy, and along the NE coast of the Adriatic Sea. This species does not occur in Sicily and reference to this latter region in the protologues of both C. spinescens C. Presl and C. candidus C. Presl is a misinterpretation due, possibly, to exchange of labels

Species and habitat biodiversity measure and conservation at different scale in small Mediterranean islands

Small islands are geographically and ecologically well-defined areas in which biological processes are easier to schematize than in the mainland. There is a vast range of biodiversity measures, due to the large concept of biodiversity and the range of spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales used. Many existing measures are well designed and informative. But, very often they are inadequate for purposes beyond those for which they were specifically designed. Knowledge on trends in biodiversity loss is hindered by the absence of reliable basic data for most groups of organisms as well as habitats. Plants are primary producers and key structural elements for most ecosystems and islands are among the best floristically known territories in the Mediterranean. Large-scale habitat measurements have been aided greatly by advances in remote sensing and GIS software. However, the degree of resolution of this technique is still not adequate for many purposes, such as monitoring many habitats that occurs on the islands (e.g. temporary Mediterranean pools or ephemeral therophytic grasslands). The measure of population size is not practical for many taxa above all in islands that often have sectors of difficult access (e.g. sea cliffs). Lists and distribution mapping of taxa are probably the most commonly used surrogate for overall biodiversity at both local and broader scales. The species level is an accepted standard, because the concept of species is well understood also by the public, and policy makers. Information on the presence of higher plants is available for many Mediterranean islands due to records of visiting naturalists, and formal surveys undertaken by governments and NGOs (e.g. the PIM initiative). In addition, in the islands the lack of records of a species is more easily correlated to its disappearance from that territory than it is in the mainland. Anyway, particular attention has to be put on measurements of rarity and extinction risk. Most extinctions, after a first peak due to a specific phenomenon, have a long after-effects, whereby the species may persist at low numbers with a negligible chance of recovery and a severely diminished role in the ecosystem

Integrative Taxonomy of Armeria Taxa (Plumbaginaceae) Endemic to Sardinia and Corsica

Sardinia and Corsica are two Mediterranean islands where the genus Armeria is represented by 11 taxa, 10 out of which are endemic. An integrative approach, using molecular phylogeny, karyology, and seed and plant morphometry was used to resolve the complex taxonomy and systematics in this group. We found that several taxa are no longer supported by newly produced data. Accordingly, we describe a new taxonomic hypothesis that only considers five species: Armeria leucocephala and A. soleirolii, endemic to Corsica, and A. morisii, A. sardoa, and A. sulcitana, endemic to Sardinia

The Libyan collections in FI (Herbarium Centrale Italicum and Webb Herbarium) and studies on the Libyan Flora by R. Pampanini - Part 2

This work is the continuation of Part 1, published in 2015, and comprises the reconstruction of the original collections of new taxa described by R. Pampanini and other botanists and, where possible, typification of the new names and taxonomical updating. The material studied for the most part concerns Libyan specimens held in the FI and FI-W herbaria but in some case also K, LD, MPU, P, PAD, PAL, ULT. Other material, which Pampanini studied in Florence was subsequently conserved in other herbaria. Specimens belonging to 21 families have been examined, from the Najadaceae to Zygophyllaceae. As well as typification, bibliographical data have been provided for those already typified. In this second part, a total of 113 names have been indexed and 91 typified, taking the names validly published in the entire work to 353, of which 286 are typified. Also on this occasion, we have provided taxonomic updates for each taxon. The Conclusions present a synthetic sum of the taxa still recognised taxonomically (entirely, in new combinations, or with a new status) in recent works on the Flora of N. Africa, in general revisions of various systematic groups, or reconsidered by the authors of this present work. We have also investigated the phyto-geographic origins of the taxa [according to the dominions proposed by Quézel (1978) for N. Africa]. Finally we have very briefly indicated the presence of material of the R. Pampanini collections (for Cyrenaica, together with R. E. G. Pichi Sermolli in 1934) in the most important herbaria. The paragraph "Addenda et Corrigenda" has been added to the final part of the treatise and relates chiefly to taxa omitted from the first part, either on account of new information or as a result of errors which came to light after publication