Floristic investigations on the eastern part of Adriatic coast in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina led to the discovery of three glasswort taxa new for the area: Arthrocaulon macrostachyum (Moric.) Piirainen et G. Kadereit and Salicornia procumbens Sm. subsp. procumbens and S. perennis Mill. All three taxa were recorded in the abandoned basins of Tivat Saline in Montenegro, while S. perennis was also found in the Klek Peninsula in Bosnia and Hercegovina. According to the IUCN criteria, the status of the newly reported taxa was classified as “critically endangered” (CR) in both countries

Milanović, Đorđije

Stanišić-Vujačić, Milica

Stešević, Danijela

Šilc, Urban

English

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ACTA BOT. CROAT. 81 (1), 2022 117Acta Bot. Croat. 81 (1), 117–120, 2022   CODEN: ABCRA 25DOI: 10.37427/botcro-2022-004 ISSN 0365-0588 eISSN 1847-8476 Short communicationNew records of Salicornia s.l. in Montenegro and Bosnia and HerzegovinaDanijela Stešević1*, Đorđije Milanović2, Milica Stanišić-Vujačić1, Urban Šilc31 University of Montenegro, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Džordža Vašingtona bb, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro2 University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Forestry, S. Stepanovića 75a, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina3 Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts - ZRC SAZU, Institute of Biology, Novi Trg 2, 1000  Ljubljana, SloveniaAbstract – Floristic investigations on the eastern part of Adriatic coast in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina led to the discovery of three glasswort taxa new for the area: Arthrocaulon macrostachyum (Moric.) Piirainen et G. Kadereit and Salicornia procumbens Sm. subsp. procumbens and S. perennis Mill. All three taxa were recorded in the abandoned basins of Tivat Saline in Montenegro, while S. perennis was also found in the Klek Peninsula in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the IUCN criteria, the status of the newly reported taxa was classified as “critically endan-gered” (CR) in both countries.Keywords: Arthrocaulon macrostachyum, new records, Salicornia perennis, Salicornia procumbensIntroductionDue to coexistence in similar ecological environments, representatives of glassworts (Salicornia s.l. (incl. Sarcocornia A.J. Scott) and Arthrocnemum Moq.) have developed  characteristic morphological traits, such as succulent, ar-ticulated and apparently leafless stems. Although they are easy to recognize, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between species or even between the related genera. Accord-ing to the literature sources (Kutleša and Lakušić 1964, Kaligarič and Škornik 2007, Kaligarič et al. 2008, Stešević and Caković 2013, Barina et al. 2018, Nikolić 2020), the fol-lowing glasswort species/aggregates have been reported along the eastern Adriatic coast (SVN – Slovenia, HRV – Croatia, BIH – Bosnia and Hercegovina, MNE – Montenegro, ALB – Albania): Arthrocaulon macrostachyum (SVN, HRV, BIH, ALB), Salicornia fruticosa (SVN, HRV, BIH, MNE, ALB), S. perennis (HRV, ALB), Salicornia europaea aggr. (SVN, HRV, MNE, ALB) and S. procumbens aggr. (SVN, HRV, ALB). To date, Arthrocaulon macrostachyum, Salicornia perennis and S. procumbens have not been in-cluded in the Checklist of Vascular Plants in Montenegro (Stešević and Caković 2013), while Salicornia perennis has not been recorded from BIH (Kutleša and Lakušić 1964), so the current results represent the first records in this part of the Adriatic coast. The aim of this paper is to present new records of the glassworts A. macrostachyum, S. perennis and S. procum-bens on the eastern Adriatic coast and to highlight their im-portance for nature conservation.Material and methodsField investigation was conducted along the eastern Adriatic coast in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The collected plant material was deposited in the Herbari-um Collection of the University of Montenegro (TGU) and in the Herbarium of the Faculty of Forestry University of Banja Luka under the following voucher numbers: TGU 1570521 (Arthrocaulon macrostachyum), TGU 1570524 (Sal-icornia perennis), SFUNIBL 753/2017 (Salicornia perennis) and TGU 1644085 (Salicornia procumbens subsp. procumbens). Specimens were identified according to Kaligarič et al. (2008), Kadereit et al. (2012) and Piirainen et al. (2017).  Phytosociological relevés were recorded according to the Braun-Blanquet method (1964) and included in the Vegeta-* Corresponding author e-mail: danijela.stesevic@ucg.ac.meSTEŠEVIĆ D., MILANOVIĆ Đ., STANIŠIĆ-VUJAČIĆ M., ŠILC U.118 ACTA BOT. CROAT. 81 (1), 2022tion Database of Montenegro (EU-ME-001, http://www.givd.info /ID /EU-ME-001). The nomenclature of the taxa given in Tab. 1, and in the text follows Euro+Med (2006), except for the Arthrocaulon and Salicornia (Piirainen et al. 2017).Results and discussionArthrocaulon macrostachyum (Moric.) Piirainen & G. Kadereit (syn. Salicornia macrostachya Moric., Arthrocnemum macrostachyum (Moric.) K. Koch, Salicornia virginica Forssk., Salicornia glauca Delile). The species is reported at several sites within Tivat Saline in Montenegro, at the edge of the front basin and on one of its islets. At all its micro-localities A. macrostachyum grows in association with  Salicornia fruticosa L., but the cover of its individuals changes with the inundation period by the sea. Table 1 shows the four ecological microsites with A. macrostachyum from the slightly elevated site, which has the shortest exposure to di-rect seawater impact, to the rapid alternation of dry and wet phases, where it grows in a monodominant community (Tab. 1, rel. 1) to the longest flooded site, where it grows in the association Puccinellio festucaeformis-Sarcocornietum fruticosae (Braun-Blanquet 1928) Géhu 1976 (Tab. 1, rel. 4).According to the IUCN (2012) criteria A. macrostachyum is considered Critically Endangered (CR) in  Montenegro (Tab. 2).Salicornia perennis Mill. (syn. Sarcocornia perennis (Mill.) A. J. Scott, Arthrocnemum perenne (Mill.) Moss). The species is found in Tivat Saline in Montenegro and in the Klek Peninsula in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Salicornia perennis is more widespread in Tivat Saline than A. macrostachyum; it  occurs not only in the slightly elevated and drier parts of the front basin, but also in the back basins, which are not exposed to the direct influence of seawater and are outside the tidal framework. Table 1 shows the phytosociological relevés with S. perennis record-ed at different sites in Tivat Saline, starting with the wettest site, where S. fruticosa dominates, while S. perennis occurs only sporadically (rel. 5), through the transitional and less humid and flooded variants (rels. 6, 7), to the monodomi-nant stands of S. perennis in the back basins, which are com-pletely dry and out of the tidal range from May onwards (rels. 8, 9).In Bosnia and Herzegovina, S. perennis is an extremely rare species that is found in a narrow zone of salt-sprayed rocky cliffs. It grows in flattened and sheltered parts of  Plantagini-Limonietum cancellati Horvatić (1934) 1939,  together with Limbarda crithmoides (L.) Dumort., Crithmum  maritimum L., Limonium cancellatum (Bernh. ex Bertol.) Kuntze, Juncus acutus L., Sonchus maritimus L., Reichardia picroides (L.) Roth, etc. According to the IUCN (2012) criteria, S. perennis is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) in both Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Tab. 2).Salicornia procumbens Sm. subsp. procumbens (syn. S. emericii Duval-Jouve, S. herbacea var. stricta G. Mey., S. pro-cumbens var. stricta (G. Mey.) J. Duvign. & Lambinon in Lambinon & al., S. oliveri Moss, S. dolichostachya Moss, S. strictissima Gram, S. fragilis P.W. Ball & Tutin, S. lutescens P.W. Ball & Tutin, S. ramosissima var. vicensis J. Duvign., S. vicensis (J. Duvign.) J. Duvign., S. emericii var. peltii Géhu, Géhu-Franck & Caron, S. veneta Pignatti & Lausi, S. borys-thenica Tzvelev) was found in Tivat Saline, both in the front and in the back basins as well as along the channels of the seawater drainage system on mudflats exposed to a regular tidal regime and nutrient flux, forming mostly immersed pioneer communities that are monospecific (Tab. 1, rel. 10) or of low species richness (Tab. 1, rels. 11-13). All relevés Tab. 1. Phytosociological table of the vegetation with Arthrocaulon macrostachyum (rels. 1-4), Salicornia perennis (rels. 5-9) and Salicornia procumbens subsp. procumebens (rels. 10-13) in the Tivat Saline, Montenegro.Relevé no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13Plot size (m2) 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 4 25Vegetation cover (%) 60 40 70 90 100 80 40 80 95 30 70 80 60Arthrocaulon macrostachyum (Moric.) Piirainen & G. Kadereit 4 3 3 1 . . . . . . . . .Salicornia perennis Mill. . . . . + 3 3 3 2 . . . +Salicornia fruticosa (L.) L. 1 2 3 5 5 3 2 . . . . 1 +Salicornia procumbens Sm. subsp. procumbens . . . . . . . . . 3 4 4 4Limonium narbonense Mill. . . . 1 1 2 . 2 3 . + 1 1Puccinellia festuciformis (Host) Parl. . . . 1 1 2 . 2 2 . + 1 .Atriplex portulacoides L. . . . . . . + 3 4 . . 1 .Hordeum marinum Huds. . . . . . . . 1 + . . . .Plantago coronopus L. . . . . . . . + . . . . .Parapholis incurva (L.) C.E.Hubb. . . . . . . . + . . . + .Spergularia marina (L.) Besser . . . . . . . + . . . . .Triglochin marituma L. . . . . . . . . . . . 1 .NEW RECORDS OF SALICORNIA S.L.ACTA BOT. CROAT. 81 (1), 2022 119could be assigned to Salicornietum emerici O. Bolós ex  Brullo et Furnari 1976.According to the IUCN (2012) criteria, S. procumbens Sm. subsp. procumbens is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) in Montenegro (Tab. 2).The morphological similarity of genera and species of cer-tain halophytic succulents from the subfamily Salicornioideae, compounded by the lack of studies dealing with the diver-sity of this group, could be considered the main reasons why it took so long to identify and report A. macrostachyum, S. perennis and S. procumbens subsp. procumbens in the studied parts of the eastern Adriatic coast. Based on the  experience gained in recent surveys at two studied sites in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, further work on glasswort chorology all along the eastern Adriatic coast is recommended. Indeed, S. perennis is confirmed at both  localities where only S. fruticosa is previously reported (Kutleša and Lakušić 1964, Janković and Stevanović 1983), while S. procumbens subsp. procumbens is reported at Tivat Saline where this annual glasswort has been treated as S. herbacea s.l. (Janković and Stevanović 1983). Inspection of a small number of existing digitised herbarium specimens from Croatia (using the platform of the Flora Croatica  Database, Nikolić 2020), shows that the glasswort is still  frequently confused and misidentified by many botanists (e.g. Arthrocaulon macrostachyum is frequently confused with Salicornia fruticosa). Recent studies of annual glassworts (Kadereit et al. 2012, Kaligarič et al. 2008, Šajna et al. 2013) have shown that two annual species occur on the Adriatic coast: the tetraploid S. procumbens and the diploid S. perennans Willd. Along the inundation gradient, tetraploid species usually alternate with diploid. The vegetation belts containing these species are clearly distinguishable in late autumn when S. procumbens turns red and S. perennans remains dully green (Fanelli et al. 2015). During our field surveys we did not find S. perennans individuals, but since our transects did not cover the entire area of the saline, as well as the late autumn aspect, the  reports of S. procumbens do not exclude the possibility that diploid S. perennans species also grow in the back basin of the saline. Thus, further investigation is required.Based on the IUCN category assessment, we propose the newly reported glasswort species as candidates for the  national list of protected plant species: Arthrocaulon  macrostachyum, Salicornia procumbens subsp. procumbens and S. perennis in Montenegro and S. perennis in Bosnia and Herzegovina.AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank Mitja Kaligarič for con-firming the identification of Salicornia procumbens, Željko Škvorc for bibliographic help; and anonymous reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions that helped us to im-prove the manuscript considerably. The research was fund-ed by JP Morsko dobro (through the projects: Monitoring of status/changes in the special reserve at Tivat Saline in 2019 and WELCOME), and by UNDP-GEF (through the Project “Achieving Biodiversity Conservation through Cre-ation, Effective Management and Spatial Designation of Protected Areas and Capacity Building for nature conser-vation in Bosnia and Herzegovina”). UŠ was supported by programme P1-0236 (ARRS) and a bilateral grant (BI-ME/16-17-018) from ARRS.Tab. 2. Assessment of the status of the Arthrocaulon macrostachyum, Salicornia perennis and Salicornia procumbens subsp. procumbens in Montenegro (MNE) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) according to the IUCN criteria.      Taxon Arthrocaulon macrostachyumSalicornia perennis Salicornia procumbens subsp. procumbensCountry MNE MNE BIH MNECategory Critically Endangered (CR) Critically Endangered (CR)Critically Endangered (CR)Critically Endangered (CR)Assessment criteria B2; B2a; B2biii B2; B2a; B2biii D B2; B2a; B2biiiDate of assessment September 2019 September 2019 October 2018 September 2019Population size ca. 500 mature individuals Very large Less that 30 individuals Very largeHabitat and ecologyCoastal salt marshes in intertidal area with varying degrees of inundation. Frequently occurs in saline sandy to clayey soils, mostly accompanied by Salicornia fruticosaCoastal salt marshes, on mudflats exposed to regu-lar tide regime and rich nutrient flowSheltered salt-sprayed rocky cliffsCoastal salt marshes, on mudflats exposed to regular tide regime and rich nutrient flowThreatsEcosystem modification, changes in shoreline morphology, changes in the tidal regime, accelerated sea-level rise due to climate changesEcosystem modification, changes in shoreline morphology, changes in the tidal regime, accelerated sea-level rise due to climate changesUrbanization, water pollution, waste depositionEcosystem modification, changes in shoreline morphology, changes in the tidal regime, accelerated sea-level rise due to climate changesEstimated by D. Stešević D. Stešević Đ. Milanović D. SteševićSTEŠEVIĆ D., MILANOVIĆ Đ., STANIŠIĆ-VUJAČIĆ M., ŠILC U.120 ACTA BOT. CROAT. 81 (1), 2022ReferencesBarina, Z., Somogyi, G., Pifkó, D., Rakaj, M., 2018: Checklist of vascular plants of Albania. Phytotaxa 378, 1–339.Braun-Blanquet, J., 1964: Pflanzensoziologie. Grundzüge der Vegetationskunde. Springer Verlag, Wien. Euro+Med, 2006: Euro+Med PlantBase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Retreived March 16, 2020 from http://ww2.bgbm.org/EuroPlusMed/Fanelli, G., De Sanctis, M., Gjeta, E., Mullaj, A., Attorre, F., 2015: The vegetation of the Buna River protected andscape (Alba-nia). Hacquetia 14, 129–174.IUCN, 2012: IUCN Red List categories and criteria, ver. 3.1., 2nd ed. IUCN Species Survival Commission, Gland.Janković, M., Stevanović, V., 1983: Contribution to the knowl-edge of halophytic vegetation of the Boka Kotorska Bay. In: Pavletić, Z., Matković, P., Grubišić, S. (eds.), Zbornik Rober-ta Visianija Šibenčanina, 377–396 (in Serbian). 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Retreived March 16, 2021 from http://hirc.botanic.hr/fcdPiirainen, M., Liebisch, O., Kadereit, G., 2017: Phylogeny, bioge-ography, systematics and taxonomy of Salicornioideae (Am-aranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae) – A cosmopolitan, highly specialized hygrohalophyte lineage dating back to the Oli-gocene. Taxon 66, 109–132.Stešević, S., Caković, D., 2013: Catalogue of vascular flora of Montenegro, vol. 1. CANU, Podgorica (in Montenegrin).Šajna, N., Regvar, M., Kaligarič, S., Škvorc, Ž., Kaligarič, M., 2013: Germination characteristics of Salicornia patula Du-val-Jouve, S. emerici Duval-Jouve, and S. veneta Pign. et Lau-si and their occurrence in Croatia. Acta Botanica Croatica 72, 347–358.AppendixData and coordinates (WGS84) of the relevés (Tab. 1). All relevés were collected at 0 m.a.s.l., except relevés 8 and 9, col-lected at 1 m.a.s.l. Rel. 1 – 2019/09/20, 42.39742N 18.71352E; Rel. 2 –2019/09/20, 42.3973N 18.71381E; Rel. 3 – 2019/09/20, 42.375N 18.7303E; Rel. 4 – 2019/09/20, 42.39553N 18.71223E; Rel. 5 – 2019/08/15, 42.39092N 18.7185E; Rel. 6 – 2019/09/20, 42.39156N 18.71871E; Rel. 7 – 2019/09/20, 42.39203N 18.71695E; Rel. 8 – 2019/07/06, 42.39829N 18.71825E; Rel. 9 – 2019/08/15, 42.39791N 18.71889E; Rel. 10 – 2019/09/02, 42.39525N 18.71759E; Rel. 11 – 2019/09/02, 42.39376N 18.71843E; Rel. 12 – 2019/05/03, 42.39226N 18.71006E; Rel. 13 – 2019/09/20, 42.39488N 18.71912E.

New records of Salicornia s.l. in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina

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