Campanula aureliana (Campanulaceae), a new species from Albania

Abstract

Campanula is a species-rich genus with high variability of the morphological traits, controversial taxonomic treatments within the Mediterranean basin as a species diversity center. One of the monophyletic groups in the genus is the Campanula series Garganicae Trinajstic distributed in the amphi-Adriatic and Ionian region. The group as currently delimited encompasses 11 taxa, mostly with highly restricted distributional ranges. In the present study plants previously named as Campanula garganica Ten. var. albanica Markgr. are described and illustrated as an isophyllous species from central Albania, for which name Campanula aureliana Bogdanovic, Resetnik, Brullo & Shuka is proposed. The results of phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear ITS and chloroplast trnL–trnF data support C. aureliana as a clearly distinct taxon within the Campanula ser. Garganicae. Its description is given, and diagnostic morphological and SEM seed micromorphological characters of closely related species are compared and discussed. Morphologically C. aureliana shows close affinity with C. fenestrellata Feer, mainly for the habit, shape and size of the corolla, but differs in a lot of significant features. Information on the ecology and conservation status of the newly described species is presented.