Knautia dinarica (Caprifoliaceae): taxonomy, typification and update of the Italian distribution

Lorenzo Peruzzi,Fabrizio Bartolucci,Fabio Conti,Giovanni Astuti,Liliana Bernardo

doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.116.1.3

Abstract

New Italian populations of Knautia dinarica, formerly known only for Sila (Calabria, Southern Italy), were discovered in Abruzzo (Central Italy) and Basilicata (Southern Italy). In order to correctly classify these populations, a taxonomic study was carried out, including morphological and karyological analyses and the typification of the names Knautia sylvatica var. dinarica and K. arvensis f. silana. We conclude that in Italy only K. dinarica subsp. silana occurs, to be considered as endemic to central-southern Apennines and vicariant of K. dinarica subsp. dinarica, occurring in the Balkan peninsula. Both subspecies can be either diploid (2n = 20) or tetraploid (2n = 40), and are distinguished by the different mean shape of the basal leaves (the ratio length/width is higher in Italian plants).

Highlights

The dipsacaceous clade within Caprifoliaceae (Dipsacales) contains ca. 300 herbaceous species, mostly distributed in the Mediterranean area, Knautia Linnaeus (1753: 101) representing a monophyletic genus with 40–60 species (Carlson et al 2009)
During field research in Central and Southern Italy, we found two populations of Knautia dinarica s.l. well outside the historical range and growing on calcareous substrate: the first one in Abruzzo region (Central Italy), the second one in Basilicata region (Southern Italy)
Quantitative morphological investigation is performed on a total of 61 herbarium specimens of K. dinarica: 26 from Calabria (Southern Italy, fully corresponding to K. dinarica subsp. silana), 11 from the Balkans, 11 from Basilicata (Southern Italy, coded as BAS) and 13 from Abruzzo (Central Italy, coded as ABR)

Summary

Introduction

The dipsacaceous clade within Caprifoliaceae (Dipsacales) contains ca. 300 herbaceous species, mostly distributed in the Mediterranean area, Knautia Linnaeus (1753: 101) representing a monophyletic genus with 40–60 species (Carlson et al 2009). Knautia dinarica (Murbeck 1891: 111) Borbás (1894: 399) is currently known from Balkan Peninsula (in the former Jugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria countries) and Southern Italy (Calabria region) (Ehrendorfer 1976, Conti et al 2005). Dinarica occurs in the Balkans (mostly on limestones), while in Italy (on siliceous substrates, see Sarfatti 1965, Brullo et al 2007) only the narrow endemic K. dinarica subsp. Silana (Grande 1913: 107) Ehrendorfer (1975: 40) is reported. During field research in Central and Southern Italy, we found two populations of Knautia dinarica s.l. well outside the historical range and growing on calcareous substrate: the first one in Abruzzo region (Central Italy), the second one in Basilicata region (Southern Italy). This work is carried out within the initiative ”Italian Loci Classici Census“ (Domina et al 2012), launched in 2010 under the auspices of the Italian Botanic Society (see for instance Di Pietro et al 2012, Gallo et al 2012, Iamonico & Peruzzi 2012, Peruzzi & Carta, 2013, Peruzzi et al 2012, 2013, Iamonico 2013, Bartolucci & Conti 2013, Bartolucci & Peruzzi 2013)

Material and Methods

Findings

Discussion