Italian Botanical Research Articles

Typification of the name Hypochaeris facchiniana Ambrosi (Asteraceae)

The present contribution is related to the project “Italian loci classici census”, promoted by the Italian Botanical Society and aimed at typifying all the names of the taxa described from Italy and at increasing their systematic knowledge (Domina et al. 2012, Passalacqua et al. 2014, Peruzzi et al. 2015, Brundu et al. 2017).

Contribution to the floristic knowledge of the head of the Po Valley (Piedmont, north Italy)

In 2014, the annual field trip of the working group for Floristics, Systematics, and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society was held in Piemonte (northern Italy), at the head of the Po Valley. This valley, at whose extremity is located the Monviso (3,841 m a.s.l.), belongs to the Cottian Alps about which very little is known from a floristic point of view. An inventory of the taxa of vascular plants collected during the field trip is reported here. The research led to the identification of 3,546 exsiccata, kept in nine public and nine private collections. A total of 669 taxa belonging to 79 plant families were recorded. Six taxa resulted endemic to Italy and three exclusive to Piemonte, while only nine alien species were detected; six taxa are new and five confirmed for the regional flora.

Typification of the name Orobanche ebuli Huter & Rigo (Orobanchaceae) and its taxonomic implications

The present contribution is part of the ongoing work aimed at researching and identifying the original material on which the names of Orobanche Linnaeus (1753: 632) described for Europe and the Mediterranean are based (Domina et al. 2005, Domina & Stepanek 2009, Domina et al. 2013, Carlón et al. 2015). It falls within the researches promoted by the Italian Botanical Society aimed at recognizing and typifying all the taxa described from Italy and their loci classici, in order to increase their systematic knowledge and promote further studies (Domina et al. 2012, Peruzzi et al. 2015, Brundu et al. 2017). Orobanche ebuli Huter & Rigo (1907: 354), is an Italian endemic (Peruzzi et al. 2015, Bartolucci et al. 2018), exclusive to Lazio and Abruzzo. It grows on the edge of beech woods at 1200–1300 m a.s.l., host of Sambucus ebulus Linnaeus (1753: 269) (Lattanzi et al. 1999, Corazzi 2003). This name, as far as we are aware, it not yet typified.

Nomenclatural notes and typification of the name Viola calcarata var. pseudogracilis (Violaceae)

The present contribution is part of an ongoing work promoted by the Italian Botanical Society aimed at recognizing and typifying all the taxa described from Italy and their loci classici, in order to increase their systematic knowledge and promote further studies (Domina et al. 2012, Passalacqua et al. 2014, Peruzzi et al. 2015, Brundu et al. 2017). One of these taxa is Viola pseudogracilis Strobl (1877: 227), an Italian endemic (Bartolucci et al. 2018) that, according to Heywood (1967), includes two subspecies: V. pseudogracilis subsp. pseudogracilis and V. pseudogracilis subsp. cassinensis (Strobl 1877: 228) Merxm. & A.F.W.Schmidt in Heywood (1967: 30).

Second-step typification of the name Arabis pedemontana Boiss. (Brassicaceae)

The present contribution is part of an ongoing work promoted by the Italian Botanical Society aimed at recognizing and typifying all the taxa described from Italy and their loci classici, in order to increase their systematic knowledge and promote further studies (Domina et al. 2012, Passalacqua et al. 2014, Peruzzi et al. 2015, Brundu et al. 2017). One of these taxa is Arabis pedemontana Boissier (1843: 69), an Italian endemic (Bartolucci et al. 2018), currently accepted as Arabidopsis pedemontana (Boiss.) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz (1997: 326).

Typification of the name Polygala flavescens DC. (Polygalaceae)

The present contribution is part of an ongoing work promoted by the Italian Botanical Society aimed to recognize and typify all the taxa described from Italy and their loci classici, in order to increase their systematic knowledge and promote further studies (Domina et al. 2012, Peruzzi et al. 2015, Brundu et al. 2017). One of these taxa is Polygala flavescens Candolle (1813: 134), an Italian endemic species that, according to Arrigoni (2014), includes three subspecies: P. flavescens DC. subsp. flavescens, P. flavescens DC. subsp. maremmana (Fiori in Fiori et al. 1908: 495) Arrigoni (2014: 251) and P. flavescens DC. subsp. pisaurensis (Caldesi 1879: 189) Arcangeli (1882: 68). To the best of our knowledge, the name Polygala flavescens was not yet typified.

Typification of the name Erodium soluntinum Tod. (Geraniaceae) and its taxonomic implications

The present contribution is part of the ongoing work promoted by the Italian Botanical Society aimed at recognizing and typifying all the taxa described from Italy and their loci classici, in order to increase their systematic knowledge and promote further studies (Domina et al. 2012, Peruzzi et al. 2015, Brundu et al. 2017). One of these taxa is Erodium soluntinum Todaro (1869: 36), a species belonging to Geraniaceae and considered an Italian endemic (Conti et al. 2005, Peruzzi et al. 2014, 2015). This name, as far as we are aware, is not yet typified.

Contribution to the floristic knowledge of the Maddalena Mountains (Basilicata and Campania, southern Italy)

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 is reported. It was held in 2013 along the Maddalena Mountains a mountain ridge of the southern Apennines located between the Basilicata and Campania administrative regions (southern Italy) considered as being poorly characterized in terms of vascular flora. A total of 701 units belonging to 74 plant families were recorded including two varieties and four hybrids.Thirty-five taxa resulted endemic to Italy and only 11 alien species were detected while 36 taxa are new or confirmed for the regional floras of Basilicata and/or Campania. In particular 12 taxa are new for Basilicata while four are confirmed. Regarding Campania 14 taxa resulted new for the regional flora and five were confirmed.

Lectotypification of the name Fimbristylis cioniana (Cyperaceae)

The present contribution is part of an ongoing work promoted by the Italian Botanical Society aimed to recognize and typify all the taxa described from Italy and their loci classici, in order to increase their systematic knowledge and promote further studies (Domina et al. 2012, Peruzzi et al. 2015).

Chromosome numbers of the Italian flora. From theCaryologiafoundation to present

Abstract After slightly more than four decades from the first chromosome counts ever, the very first chromosome count on Italian plants was published in 1925 by Alberto Chiarugi. From this starting point, fundamental cornerstones of Italian plant karyology are: 1) the foundation, in Pisa, of the international journal Caryologia, now edited in Florence and indexed by ISI Web of Science© under the category Genetics and Heredity. 2) the constitution, within the Italian Botanical Society, of the Working Group for Plant Cytotaxonomy and Embryology (currently Plant Biosystematics), which in 1970 (still in Pisa) fostered the publication of the column Numeri Cromosomici per la Flora Italiana on the journal Informatore Botanico Italiano. 3) the constitution, at the end of the ‘90s, of the online database Chrobase.it – Chromosome numbers for the Italian flora. The history and role of cytotaxonomic research is highlighted, by reconstructing life and science of four eminent scientists: Alberto Chiarugi (1901-1960), G...

A partnership project for a new Red List of the Italian Flora

The IUCN Red Lists assessment provides an internationally accepted system to verify the extinction risk of species. Working Groups of the Italian Botanical Society have recently discussed the importance of producing a reliable list of species at the national level. This list could be the starting point for future in situ and ex situ plant conservation activities.

Annual meeting of the Cell and Molecular Biology Group and of the Biotechnology group of the Italian Botanical Society (Società Botanica Italiana)

Annual meeting of the Cell and Molecular Biology Group and of the Biotechnology group of the Italian Botanical Society (Società Botanica Italiana)

The exploitation of medicinal plants of the Mediterranean area

For a better study of the great number of species constituting the medicinal plants of the Mediterranean area, ethnobotanical maps are actually being produced by the Italian Botanical Society. The following points are raised : (1) the study of the ancient books of Materia Medica of the various countries which preserve, better than anywhere else, the true traditions; these have, in part, been passed on to the modern pharmacopoeias; 1. (2) the importance of the determination of the species of medicinal plants; 2. (3) the different uses of a plant in different countries; 3. (4) the importance of taxonomy and chemotaxonomy for more precise studies of the species containing active principles. Conservation of species must be one of the primary objectives at present, and therefore the formation of “germ plasma” banks for the main medicinal plants in order to preserve their genetical patrimonies is suggested.

Émile Levier A travers le Caucase Notes et Impressions d'un Botaniste

DR. LEVIER accompanied his botanical friend, Signor Stephen Sommier, on a tour through the Central Caucasus in 1890, the object being mainly to collect and study the flora of the mountains. The letters which he sent to his friends recording his impressions were published in a magazine without his knowledge, although not written for the public, and the present volume is practically a republication of the letters, edited by the author, and illustrated by numerous sketches and reproductions of photographs. Amongst the latter are several of Signor Vittorio Sella's fine pictures of Caucasian scenery, which, however, are not done justice to in the process blocks. The botanical results of the journey have been published for the most part in the Bulletin of the Italian Botanical Society, and only a list of the sixty-nine new species found is given in the book, such references to botany as occur in I the text, though full of interest and presenting some acute| generalisations, by no means preponderating over the miscellaneous observations of an intelligent tourist, and the pleasantly narrated incidents of travel. A list of thirty-seven species of lepidoptera collected by Dr. Levier is also given. Émile Levier. A travers le Caucase. Notes et Impressions d'un Botaniste. 8vo. pp. 348. (Paris: Libraire Fischbacher.)