Abstract
The Italian endemic vascular flora is composed of 1,286 specific and subspecific taxa. From the critical analysis of “Chrobase.it”, 711 of them (about 55%) have been studied from a karyological point of view. These taxa belong to 52 out of 56 families and 204 out of 284 genera. These data suggest that endemic species are more studied than the flora as a whole. Mean chromosome number for Italian endemics is 2n = 30.68 ± 20.27 (median: 2n = 26, mode: 2n = 18). These values are very close to those known for the whole flora. Similar variation ranges, among endemics and species with wider distribution, are likely to reflect similar evolutionary trends. Known chromosome numbers in Italian endemics range from 2n = 8 to 2n = 182. About 9% of taxa show more than one cytotype and the frequency of Bs in the Italian endemic vascular flora is 3.3%. These values are slightly smaller compared with the whole Italian flora. Finally, for the basic chromosome numbers x = 7, 8, 9, the proportion of diploids (2n = 2x) to even polyploids (2n = 4x, 6x, 8x and 10x) can be described by the exponential function f(p) = e(5.539 – 0.637p) (R2 = 0.984).
Highlights
The number of chromosome count databases, either hard-printed or online, matches current research trends, and attests to the usefulness of chromosome data in current taxonomic, genetic and cytogeographic research (Del Prete et al 1999; Guerra 2008; Stuessy 2009; Bedini et al 2012a, b)
The present work aims to summarize the karyological knowledge focusing on the endemic component of Italian vascular flora, extracted from the online database “Chrobase.it” (Bedini et al 2010 onwards)
The most intensely investigated regions are Sicily, Tuscany and Sardinia, where more than half of the Italian endemic flora growing in the respective territories was karyologically studied
Summary
The number of chromosome count databases, either hard-printed or online, matches current research trends, and attests to the usefulness of chromosome data in current taxonomic, genetic and cytogeographic research (Del Prete et al 1999; Guerra 2008; Stuessy 2009; Bedini et al 2012a, b). In terms of karyological knowledge, is about 35% (Peruzzi et al 2011; Bedini et al 2012a, b). The present work aims to summarize the karyological knowledge focusing on the endemic component of Italian vascular flora, extracted from the online database “Chrobase.it” (Bedini et al 2010 onwards)
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