Hacquetia

New checklist and the red list of the hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) and liverworts (Marchantiophyta) of Slovenia

Andrej Martinčič — 2024-05-26

The new Checklist of hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) and liverworts (Marchantiophyta) of Slovenia within current political boundaries comprises 180 species, additional 4 subspecies and 2 varietes. Additional 5 species are denoted by a question mark since reports are considered questionable. An alphabetical arranged tabular presentation of genera, species and lower taxa, also shows their presence in particular phytogeographical units of Slovenia. The records from the periods before and after 1958 are marked with different symbols. Each species has also new Red List status in Slovenia. The checklist includes the data from literature and Herbarium LJU. Annotations to selected species give a critical evaluation of the literature and herbarium data. A list of taxa that should be excluded from the flora of Slovenia, the synonyms and the literature with floristic data, not cited in this article, are also added.

Three moss novelties in the flora of North Macedonia

Beáta Papp — 2024-05-20

Three moss species are recorded for the first time in the Republic of North Macedonia. These are Brachytheciastrum dieckei, Kiaeria starkei and Orthotrichum schimperi. The details on records are given including distribution, georeferences and ecology.

Wide habitat preference found in a rare, regional endemic species: Iris brandzae Prodán (Iridaceae Juss., subgenus Limniris, series Spuriae) in Romania

Simona Dumitrița Chirilă — 2024-02-09

Iris brandzae is one of the most threatened plant species in Romania. The current distribution of this species is very fragmented, and the population size has been reduced in the last 30 years. Information on the habitat preferences of the species has not been summarized yet. In this context, this study aimed to identify the habitat preferences of the species I. brandzae in Romania. The study was carried out in the NE (Moldova) and SE (Muntenia) regions of Romania. For the vegetation analysis, a total of 46 relevés were used. To classify the vegetation, we applied the hierarchical agglomerative clustering method, using the ß-flexible algorithm with ß = -0.25 and the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity. The data were represented as mean percentage values, according to the the Braun-Blanquet scale . Relationships between floristic composition and environmental variables were analyzed with Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) . The vegetation analysis showed that I. brandzae grows in xerophilous, mesophilous and halophilous grasslands and ash-alpine alluvial forests. The species occurs in the communities of the Stipion lessingianae alliance, of the Festucetalia valesiacae order, mainly. The results of the CCA analysis indicate that the variation of the floristic composition of I. brandzae is influenced by the annual mean temperature (BIO1).

Discovering hidden treasures: unveiling a new population of the narrow endemic Hieracium lucidum Guss. (Asteraceae) on the Mounts of Palermo (NW Sicily, Italy)

Salvatore Pasta — 2024-04-15

The authors discovered a new population of Hieracium lucidum Guss., a species hitherto considered strictly endemic to Monte Gallo. Useful elements for the ecological characterisation of the new population are provided. The stretch of carbonate coastline between the Egadi Islands and the western portion of the Province of Palermo displays a very high wealth of valuable floristic elements and represents a unicum in terms of both phytogeography and ecology. Considering the extreme fragmentation of the distribution pattern of many endemic and exclusive species that characterise this district, as in the case of H. lucidum, the authors suggest upgrading the strategies to protect the local botanical heritage, going beyond the species approach and thinking on a wider territorial scale.

The family Bignoniaceae in Tunisia, first survey including new floristic records to North Africa with nomenclatural notes

Ridha El Mokni — 2024-06-09

Botanical surveys carried out during the last 13 years throughout central and northern Tunisia (North Africa) allow to find first national and continental N-African records of non-native taxa belonging to Bignoniaceae. The genera Catalpa, Podranea, and Tecomaria are new for N-Africa (Catalpa is new for the whole Africa). Tecomaria capensis is here considered as a naturalized alien species, whereas Campsis radicans, Catalpa bignonioides, Jacaranda mimosifolia, Podranea brycei, P. ricasoliana, and Tecoma stans are casuals. Distribution in Tunisia, phenology, and original photographs are provided for each species. A diagnostic key for Tunisian Bignoniaceae is also given. Moreover, the name Tecoma ricasoliana (basionym of Podranea ricasoliana) is lectotypified on a specimen preserved at FI (isolectotypes at FI and K), whereas the holotype indication of the name Bignonia capensis (basionym of Tecomaria capensis), made in Flora of Tropical East Africa, is here corrected according to the Art. 9.10 of Shenzhen Code (lectotype at UPS; isolectotype, here reported for the first time, at LD).

Comparative morphometric and morphological study of the pollen of Beta trigyna, B. vulgaris and B. vulgaris subsp. maritima (Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae sensu APG IV)

Zoya M. Tsymbalyuk — 2024-02-21

Pollen morphology of Beta trigyna, B. vulgaris and B. vulgaris subsp. maritima, last of those studied for the first time, was investigated using light and scanning electron microscopy, based on 10 herbarium specimens. The aim of the study was to provide detailed data on the pollen characteristics of these taxa to identify similarities and differences between them. Pollen grains are pantoporate, spheroidal, circular in outline; small- and medium-sized. Exine sculpture is nanoechinate, tectum is psilate or psilate-perforate. Pore membranes are nanoechinate. Diagnostic relevance of the characters of pollen grains is discussed (pollen and pore diameters, distance between pores and between pore centres, nanoechini size and density, number of nanoechini on pore membranes, structure of columellae). UPGMA dendrograms based on palynological data support the differentiation of B. trigyna (section Corollinae), B. vulgaris and B. vulgaris subsp. maritima (section Beta). The obtained characteristics of pollen grains of Beta species can be used in spore-pollen analysis, especially in identifying the impact of human economic activity in the past.

Successional development of shrub-woody vegetation on natural river banks along certain watercourses in the Julian Alps and their foothills (western Slovenia and northeastern Italy)

Igor Dakskobler — 2024-06-09

We conducted a phytosociological survey of pioneer shrub and shrub-wood (brushwood) communities on river banks at the contact of gravel bars and rockfall, slope debris or colluvium in the spring area of the Nadiža River, in the gorge of the Soča River between Srpenica and Kobarid (Log Čezsoški and Magozd), in the Tolminka valley, and in certain other locations in the hills of western Slovenia. We identified a successional sequence of two grey willow and hop hornbeam communities, which we classify into the associations Salicetum eleagno-appendiculatae (Salicion eleagno-daphnoidis) and Peucedano verticillari-Ostryetum carpinifoliae (Fraxino orni-Ostryion). Both are indicators of natural river banks that have not been artificially stabilized. We expanded the knowledge of hop hornbeam communities in the pre-Alpine–northern-Dinaric part of Slovenia with a description of a new association Scopolio carniolicae-Ostryetum carpinifoliae. Its sites are characterised by slightly moist soil, and its stands by a higher proportion of species of the alliance Tilio-Acerion.