Crocus ilvensis sp. nov. (sect. Crocus, Iridaceae), endemic to Elba Island (Tuscan Archipelago, Italy)

Abstract

A new species of Crocus sect. Crocus is described as an endemic of Elba Island (Tuscan Archipelago, Italy): C. ilvensis Peruzzi & Carta sp. nov. (2n=8). The new species was wrongly referred to C. corsicus Vanucchi (2n=18), C. etruscus Parl. (2n=8) or C. vernus Hill. subsp. vernus (2n=8, 16) by previous authors. Its karyotype structure, asymmetry and chromosome dimensions show affinity with C. etruscus, and no clear relations with other related taxa. From a morphological point of view, C. ilvensis appears intermediate between C. etruscus and C. vernus subsp. vernus, showing however a peculiar combination of character‐states. The new species is completely allopatric with other Crocus sect. Crocus taxa and its possible role in the origin of tetraploid races of C. vernus is discussed.

Phylogeny, karyotype evolution and taxonomy of Crocus series Verni (Iridaceae)

“…In both cases, the larger the value the greater is the asymmetry in the karyotype. In addition following Peruzzi and Carta (2011), also the CV CI (Coefficient of Variation of Chromosome Index) and karyotype total haploid length (THL) were calculated. The CV CI index evaluates heterogeneity in centromere position for each chromosome in the karyotype, while THL deals with the overall size of the monoploid chromosome complement, expressed in micrometers, that closely correlates with genome size ).…”

“…Therefore, molecular and morphological analyses were carried out here, including samples from different populations of C. vernus sensu Mathew (1982) from Italy, Switzerland and Serbia, representing all taxonomically critical taxa (C. albiflorus, C. heuffelianus, C. neapolitanus and C. siculus) as well as of Tuscan endemics C. etruscus Parl., C. ilvensis, the Serbian endemic C. kosaninii Pulević and C. tommasinianus Herb., distributed in Bulgaria, Hungary and former Yugoslavia. The latter four species were considered as closest relatives to C. vernus sensu Mathew (Mathew 1982;Peruzzi and Carta 2011). Furthermore, C. longiflorus Raf.…”

Phylogeny, geographic distribution, and new taxonomic circumscription of the Crocus reticulatus species group (Iridaceae)

“…The genus Crocus L. consists currently of about 160 recognized species (Mathew, 1982;Petersen et al, 2008;Kerndorff and Pasche, 2011;Kerndorff et al, 2011Kerndorff et al, , 2013Peruzzi and Carta, 2011;Ranđelović et al, 2012;Harpke et al, 2014) occurring from western Europe and northwestern Africa to western China, with the center of species diversity on the Balkan Peninsula and in Turkey. Many crocuses are known as popular ornamentals, and saffron, the dried styles of C. sativus L., is one of the world's most expensive spices.…”

Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 2

“…pro parte). While the first two taxa, both narrow endemics to Toscana, are not particularly problematic (Carta et al 2010, Peruzzi and Carta 2011, Harpke et al 2015, whereas the remaining species (C. neapolitanus and C. neglectus) are more difficult to identify. Crocus neapolitanus has been recorded generically for the "Italian peninsula", but it is absent from Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, and Toscana, where C. neglectus occurs (Harpke et al 2015).…”