Volumen 18 (2019): Edición 1 (June 2019)

Recent original data concerning vineyard spring vegetation from Veneto hilly belt (North-eastern Italy) highlighted once again the phytogeographic originality of south-eastern territories with respect to Central European ones, also in anthropogenic coenosis. New relevés suggested to restate the association Cerastio tenoreani-Geranietum dissecti as vicarious vegetation of Geranio rotundifolii-Allietum vinealis occurring on the north side of the Alps. The comparison of autumn material from terracing vineyards of the sandy-marly Eocene flysch around Trieste coast with similar European relevés enabled to reject the not validly described Anagallido-Mercurialetum and to replace it with Mercurialetum annuae. In modern winegrowing Cerastio-Geranietum and Mercurialetum annuae are vanishing due to changing of agronomic schemes, as some relevés reported in the text document.

We conducted a phytosociological study of alpine grasslands with dominant Luzula alpinopilosa in the Julian and Carnic Alps. Based on a comparison with similar communities elsewhere in the Alps we described a new association Junco jacquinii-Luzuletum alpinopilosae, which we classify into the provisional alliance Doronico glacialis-Juncion jacquinii, order Festucetalia spadiceae and class Juncetea trifidi. The new association characterises moist shady grasslands in gullies and on ledges on limestone admixed with marlstone and chert, in the elevation range between 2000 and 2500 m, where the snow cover persists for extended periods. We distinguish three subassociations: -galietosum anisophyllae (the most calcareous form), -potentilletosum aureae (typical form) and -leucanthemopsietosum alpinae (acidophilic form on Werfen sandstones in the Carnic Alps, which is the most similar to the stands of the association Luzuletum alpinopilosae from the Central Alps).

In the alpine belt of the Julian Alps (glacial cirque Na Jezerih under Mt. Veliki Rokav, Jarečica, the Mangart Saddle and Prodi under Mt. Mangart as well as Mt. Plešivec in the rock wall of Loška Stena) we studied the phytosociology and ecology of snow-bed vegetation with dominating flowering plants Salix herbacea, Luzula alpinopilosa, Gnaphalium supinum, Soldanella pusilla and Salix retusa, and numerous moss species. Based on the comparison with similar snow-bed communities in the Central, Eastern and Southern Alps we described a new association Salicetum retuso-herbaceae and classified it into the alliance Salicion herbaceae and class Salicetea herbaceae. We determined several successional stages of snow-bed vegetation on mixed calcareous-silicate bedrock that we treat as variants, in two relevés also the initial association Polytrichetum sexangularis.

The present paper studies the ruderal vegetation of the class of Robinietea in Kryvyi Rih. We present the spontaneous woody vegetation of parks and other artificial plantations. Urban landscapes remain unstudied phytosociologically despite the highly diverse habitat niches. We have carried out the comparisons of communities from other regions of Ukraine and adjacent territories. In total, four associations and one derivate community, belonging to three alliances, were identified and categorized as follows: Chelidonio-Acerion negundi (synanthropic tree communities with Acer negundo), Chelidonio majoris-Robinion pseudoacaciae (artificial and spontaneous plantations of Robinia pseudoacacia), Geo-Acerion platanoidis (artificial plantations of broad-leaved tree species). The ordination analysis indicates ecological differentiation of syntaxa investigated in Kryvyi Rih. The most important of them are soil aeration (Ae), the cryo-climate (Cr) and nitrogen content in soil (Nt). Critical revision of the class Robinietea syntaxonomy demands further current research.

Senecio fontanicola is endemic to black-bog-rush fens of southern Austria, northwestern Slovenia and north-eastern Italy. It is characterized by oblanceolate leaves, a low number of supplementary bracts and glabrous achenes and it grows in marshy spring areas, fens and reed beds, between elevations from 20 to 850 m. The species was never described with molecular traits and during the last decades, S. fontanicola showed a dramatic decline due to land reclamation for agriculture. Therefore, the present study aims to characterize S. fontanicola using the molecular barcoding technique and to updated its distribution to propose a global risk category for the species, based on IUCN criteria. The three molecular markers used in this study (trnH-psbA, rbcL, and ITS) clearly distinguished S. fontanicola from S. doria. s.s. and the revised distribution allowed the definition of the conservation status of the species, that is Endangered-EN B2ab(i, ii, iii, iv) following the B criterion of the IUCN guidelines.

Lallemantia royleana (Benth.) Benth. (Family Lamiaceae), is one of the most popular medicinal plants in Iran. It is an herbaceous pant that is commonly known as “Lady mantle”. The vernacular name of Lallemantia royleana’s seed is Balangu or Balangu Shirazi that is used as a source of medicine. Medicinal plants are very important from economic point of view in Iran and several large industries are focused on medicinal plants cultivation, extraction and export. Therefore, providing data on the biology of these plants is important for the country. Lallemantia royleana grows in different parts of Iran and forms several local populations. Genetic, morphological and biochemical divergence of geographical populations are well known in plant species. We have no report on population genetic structure, genetic fragmentation, local adaptation and gen flow of Lallemantia royleana populations in the country. Therefore, the present population genetics investigation was programmed to produce data on above said questions. Randomly collected plants of 7 geographical regions were studied by ISSR molecular markers. This information can be used in hybridization and gene conservation of this medicinal plant in Iran.

This study conducted to determine relationship among and within Iranian Helichrysum species (Asteraceae). In this study based on ISSR markers, the highest percentage of ISSR loci polymorphism (54.7%) occurred in H. armenium. The highest gene diversity over loci (1.224), Shannon’s Information Index (0.224%) and Expected Heterozygosity (0.142%) occurred in H. armenium (0.18) and the lowest of these parameters (0%) were observed in H. araxinum, H. graveolens, H. persicum and H. psychrophilum. The highest genetic similarity occurred between H. armenium and H. rubicundum (0.989), while the lowest was between H. polyphyllum and H. graveolens (0.213). The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), showed significant genetic variation among (24%) and within (76%) species. In morphological analysis traits such as indumentum, resting bud, achene length, achenial papillae, dimension of receptacle and form and apex of phyllaries were main diagnostic features. Results obtained from the morphological cluster were greatly consistent with the molecular data, to elucidating taxonomic relationships, as well as both attributed the higher diversity in H. armenium and H. rubicundum in comparison with other species and also indicated that H. persicum is a member of H. oocephalum species. Totally we confirmed the presence of 18 species in Iran.

Populations of Atriplex canescens var. gigantea were found in Lamta, Bouficha-Enfidha (central Tunisia), and Medenine (southern Tunisia). Literature data concerning the presence of this species in Tunisia are contradictory but now our data confirm its occurrence in the country. On the other hand, this variety is reported in the present paper for the first time both in Tunisia and in North Africa in general. Morphological characters and ecological data are presented, as well as notes about patterns of infraspecific variability of A. canescens. Nomenclatural notes on infraspecific names in A. canescens, as well as on the closely related species A. garrettii, are provided. The types of the names A. canescens var. laciniata, A. canescens var. macilenta, A. garrettii, Obione occidentalis var. angustifolia, and Pterochiton occidentale, that in earlier publications were erroneously considered to be holotypes, are in fact lectotypes (for most of taxa) under Art. 9.10 of the ICN. Isolectotypes were found at CAS (A. canescens var. laciniata and A. canescens var. macilenta), GH (A. canescens var. macilenta), and YU (Atriplex nuttallii).

During floristic research of acidic bogs, calcareous fens and seasonally flooded (periodically inundated) grassy places in beech forests in Semolj region, Eleocharis carniolica W. D. J. Koch was found, which was the first record of that species in vascular plant flora of Montenegro. In surrounding countries, this species was recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Albania. This paper provides description of sites, habitat and ecology of Eleocharis carniolica W. D. J. Koch in Montenegro.

Flora of the southern part of Kosovo has previously been studied in a limited way due to the difficult terrain and the fact that up to the 1990s it was a military area. In this paper we report Galanthus elwesii Hook for the first time from Kosovo. This species is found in different habitats, mainly in siliceous substrate or wet meadows of the Dragash Municipality, South Kosovo. This species was collected in the Vraça Mountains, near Restelica, (part of National Park ‘Sharri’) on the road leading to the border with Macedonia. The study area consists of territories belonging to the phytogeographic system Skardon-Pindik (Sharri-Pindi) and includes the mountain ranges of Sharri. This research comprises the presence, description, spread and mapping of the species.