Contribution to the floristic knowledge of eastern Irpinia and Vulture-Melfese area (Campania and Basilicata, southern Italy)

Lorenzo Peruzzi,Enrico Vito Perrino,Anna Scoppola,Giuseppe Caruso,Laura Cancellieri,Romeo Di Pietro,Giovanni Astuti,Vito Antonio Romano,Rossella Marcucci,Giuseppe D’Auria,Fabrizio Bartolucci,Giuseppina Chianese,Daniela Bouvet,Mariacristina Villani,Riccardo Pennesi,Maria Ravo,Simonetta Peccenini,Immacolata Catalano,Emanuela Carli,Adriano Stinca,Liliana Bernardo,Maria Rita Lapenna,Giampiero Ciaschetti,Gianmaria Bonari,Fabio Conti,Simonetta Fascetti,Giovanni Salerno,Paola Fortini,Leonardo Rosati,Francesco Roma‐Marzio ,A Tilia ,E Lattanzi ,G D Cennamo ,C Gangale

doi:10.3897/italianbotanist.8.37818

Abstract

In order to improve the floristic knowledge of the Italian territory, we report the inventory of the taxa collected during the annual field trip of the working group for Floristics, Systematics and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society held in 2015 in eastern Irpinia and Vulture-Melfese area (South Italy). The investigated territories are located in southern Apennines, along the border between the Campania and Basilicata administrative regions. These areas are scarcely known in terms of vascular flora. The floristic samplings were performed in 19 sites selected as representative of the local environmental diversity as regards to climate, litho-morphology and land-use. The research led to the identification of 4,137 specimens of vascular plants, belonging to 815 species and subspecies, 399 genera, and 85 families. Among these taxa, 42 were endemic to Italy, 38 were included in the IUCN Red List of the Italian Flora, 28 were alien and 5 were cryptogenic in Campania and/or Basilicata administrative regions. Two taxa, Aquilegia coerulea (casual alien, native to North America) and Lolium × boucheanum (native), were found to be new for Italy. On the basis of the available floristic literature the first one is also to be considered new for the European flora. At regional scale, we have found 18 taxa new for the Campania and 15 new for the Basilicata region. Finally, 10 taxa were confirmed for Campania. Data obtained during this study, confirmed the important role of a collaborative approach among botanists and the great relevance of these territories for plant diversity.

Highlights

The floristic knowledge of a territory is of considerable importance for scientific purposes and for conservation (Carli et al 2018)
In order to improve the floristic knowledge of the Italian territory, we report the inventory of the taxa collected during the annual field trip of the working group for Floristics, Systematics and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society held in 2015 in eastern Irpinia and Vulture-Melfese area (South Italy)
This research aims at improving the floristic knowledge of these areas which are located at the boundary between the administrative regions of Basilicata and Campania

Summary

Introduction

The floristic knowledge of a territory is of considerable importance for scientific purposes and for conservation (Carli et al 2018). In the last two decades, the activities of the working group for Floristics, Systematics and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society have greatly improved the knowledge about the vascular flora of some scarcely known areas of the Italian territory by using a collaborative approach (Peccenini et al 2007, 2010, Peruzzi et al 2011, Bouvet et al 2018, Bartolucci et al 2019a) This has been fruitful in the southern part of Italian Peninsula (Conti et al 2006, 2007, Santangelo et al 2010, Bernardo et al 2012, Wagensommer et al 2014, Domina et al 2015, Rosati et al 2017, in press). According to Scoppola and Blasi (2005) and Blasi et al (2011) these areas were included among those for which the available floristic data were absent or scarce

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