ambientale, sapienza università di roma, roma, italy; f Dipartimento di scienze e tecnologie Biologiche ed ambientali, università del salento, lecce, italy; g istituto Beni culturali, regione emilia-romagna, Bologna, italy; h centro conservazione Biodiversità (ccB), Dipartimento di scienze della Vita e dell'ambiente (DisVa), università di cagliari, cagliari, italy; i scuola di Bioscienze e medicina Veterinaria, università di camerino, macerata, italy; j Dipartimento di scienze della Vita, università di modena e reggio emilia, modena, italy; k Dipartimento di scienze della terra, dell'ambiente e della Vita (DistaV), università di genova, genova, italy; l Dipartimento di Biologia, ecologia, e scienze della terra (DiBest), università della calabria, cosenza, italy; m Dipartimento di scienze della Vita e Biologia dei sistemi (DBios), università di torino, torino, italy; n comitato scientifico, museo regionale di scienze naturali efisio noussan, aosta, italy; o sezione di Botanica filippo Parlatore, museo di storia naturale, università di firenze, firenze, italy; p Dipartimento di Biologia, università di napoli federico ii, napoli, italy; q Dipartimento di scienze agrarie, alimentari e forestali, università di Palermo, Palermo, italy; r scuola di scienze agrarie, forestali, alimentari ed ambientali, università della Basilicata, Potenza, italy; s strada Val san martino superiore, torino, italy; t centro ricerche floristiche marche, Pesaro, italy; u Dipartimento di Pianificazione, Design, tecnologia dell'architettura (PDta), sapienza università di roma, roma, italy; v Department of Botany, national museum of natural history, smithsonian institution, washington, Dc, usa; w Via isonzo, massa, italy; x Dipartimento di scienze della terra, università di torino, torino, italy; y Via regazzoni Bassa, Padova, italy; z museo di storia naturale della calabria ed orto Botanico, università della calabria, cosenza, italy; aa Dipartimento di scienze della Vita, università di trieste, trieste, italy; ab fondazione museo civico di rovereto, trento, italy; ac sezione di Botanica ed ecologia Vegetale, Dipartimento di scienze e tecnologie Biologiche, chimiche e farmaceutiche (steBicef), università di Palermo, Palermo, italy; ad Dipartimento di scienze agrarie e forestali (Dafne), università della tuscia, Viterbo, italy; ae Via europa unita, schio, italy; af istituto per le Piante da legno e l'ambiente (iPla), torino, italy; ag laboratori di Botanica, Dipartimento di scienze delle Produzioni agroalimentari e dell'ambiente, università di firenze, firenze, italy; ah largo Brigata cagliari, Vercelli, italy; ai Dipartimento di scienze e tecnologie ambientali, Biologiche e farmaceutiche, università della campania luigi Vanvitelli, caserta, italy;

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Biological invasions have become one of the main drivers of habitat degradation and a leading cause of biodiversity loss in island ecosystems worldwide. The spread of invasive species poses a particular environmental threat on the islands of the Mediterranean Basin, which are hotspots of biodiversity and contain rare habitats and endemic species, especially on small islands, which are highly vulnerable to biodiversity loss. \ud Following a recent survey, in this paper we aim to provide an overview of the present-day non-native vascular flora of small Mediterranean islands based on a sample of 37 islands located in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, off the coast of Italy. By comparing the current data with those gathered during a previous survey conducted in the same study area, we also aim to highlight the main changes that have occurred in non-native plant species diversity, establishment and distribution in recent years, and to present a first general overview of the most prominent plant taxa in the island’s introduced flora, focusing on those most responsible for these changes and those that pose the greatest environmental threats. \ud We recorded 203 non-native plant species, 147 of which have established on at least one of the islands investigated. Overall, we detected a sharp increase in the number of species, in their levels of establishment and in the extent of their distribution within the study area in recent years. This may be explained by the intensification of research on plant invasions, as well as to new introduction, escape, establishment and invasion events on the islands in recent decades. The most remarkable plants detected include acacias and succulents, two groups that appear to be emerging very rapidly and to be posing new threats to the conservation of the islands’ natural environment, especially the genus Carpobrotus, whose spread into natural habitats containing rare and endemic taxa is seriously threatening biodiversity on both a local and global scale.\ud On the whole, our results show that the plant invasion phenomenon in the study area has in recent years intensified considerably. As this process seems likely to continue, we should expect more establishment events in the future and the further spread of species that are already present. This is of particular conservation concern on the islands investigated in this survey, which are rich in endemisms but have been facing deep socio-economic and environmental transformations in these last decades as a consequence of the abandonment of traditional management practices and the development of tourism. Our study thus confirms that plant invasions on Mediterranean islands are a serious environmental problem that threatens biodiversity conservation not only in the Mediterranean biogeographic region but also on the global scale, and highlights the need to further increase efforts aimed at preventing, controlling or mitigating the effects of plant invasions in island ecosystems

The molecular analysis provides novel insights into the evolutionary history of C. esculentus. The results have various taxonomic and phylogenetic implications, including a hypothesis on the origin and phylogeography of this species, which probably originated in the late Cenozoic in Africa, and reached the Americas repeatedly, independently of Columbian exchanges.

The census of the loci classici of 1,227 native, non-endemic vascular plants described from Italy is here presented and described. The effective place of publication of accepted names, basionyms and homotypic synonyms were identified and critically verified. The geographic information on the loci classici was excerpted from the protologues, as well as information on typification for the taxa described before 1 January 1958. The names without a holotype are 1,165. For 591 names a lecto- or neo-typification is available in literature, while 572 currently accepted taxa still need a type designation. For ten of these names showing previous ineffective typification, nomenclatural types are designated here (Allium savii, A. tenuiflorum, Anemone millefoliata, Catapodium tuberculosum, Cynosurus siculus, Filago congesta, Saponaria bellidifolia, Sclerochloa patens, S. zwierleinii, and Vicia leucantha). A new combination (Trisetaria aurea comb. nov.) is proposed. The general picture of the currently accepted taxa of vascular plants described from Italy, including endemics, amounts to 2,631, i.e. about 32% of the native flora currently recorded for the country.

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In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1.

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