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ISRAEL JOURNAL OF PLANT SCIENCES, 2017
https://doi.org/10.1080/07929978.2016.1257146

A taxonomic reassessment of the Centaurea busambarensis complex (Compositae,
Cardueae), with description of a new species from the Egadi Islands (W Sicily)

Gianniantonio Domina a,b , Werner Greuter a,c and Francesco M. Raimondo a,d
a b
Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum, Palermo, Italy; Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Palermo,
d
c
Italy; Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Freie Universit€ at Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Department of Biological,
Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY
The results of a statistical biometric study of the Centaurea busambarensis complex, which Received 16 August 2016
represents the C. cineraria aggregate in Sicily and its offshore islets, are presented. Seventeen Accepted 2 November 2016
populations, representing all seven previously recognized taxa (four species and three additional KEYWORDS
subspecies) plus a presumed undescribed one were studied. The statistical analysis (PCA and DA) Centaurea; morphometry;
of 26 morphological characters confirmed these eight taxa as distinct, geographically or endemism; Mediterranean
ecologically vicarious units of equal weight, not supporting their treatment at different ranks.
Consequently, they are recognized here as species, resulting in the description (with illustration) of
one of them as new (C. aegusae, endemic to Favignana island, Egadi Archipelago, W Sicily) and in a
new combination at species rank (C. seguenzae). A key for identifying the eight species of the
complex is provided.

Introduction consider the aggregate to be monophyletic subject to
the exclusion of three geographically marginal species
The group of plant populations to which the present
(C. gymnocarpa Moris & De Not., C. veneris (Sommier)
study is devoted, here referred to as the Centaurea
B eg., C. leucadea Lacaita) and the inclusion of the mor-
busambarensis complex, belongs to C. sect. Centaurea.
phologically unrelated Sicilian C. parlatoris Heldr.
As here defined, that section is a natural, predomi-
The Centaurea busambarensis complex treated here
nantly Mediterranean, monophyletic taxon (C. sect.
consists of the Sicilian representatives of the C. ciner-
Acrolophus (Cass.) DC. sensu lato; “Acrolophus sub-
aria aggregate: four species (C. busambarensis Guss., C.
group” as circumscribed by Garc ıa-Jacas et al. 2006,
erycina Raimondo & Bancheva, C. panormitana Lojac.,
“Centaurea group” of Hilpold et al. 2014) of more than
C. saccensis Raimondo et al.), one of them with four
200 species. It includes what has been called the C.
subspecies (C. panormitana subsp. seguenzae (Lacaita)
cineraria aggregate, a group of perennials character-
Greuter, subsp. todaroi (Lacaita) Greuter, subsp. ucriae
ized by a white or gray indumentum, phyllaries with a
(Lacaita) Greuter, subsp. umbrosa (Fiori) Greuter; see
decurrent scarious appendage and flexible fimbriae,
Greuter 2008). Their nomenclature has been revised
pink flowers, and pinnatisect leaves.
recently (Domina et al. 2016), one of the results being
The Centaurea cineraria aggregate has been stud-
that, after neotypification of the name C. panormitana,
ied cytotaxonomically by Cela Renzoni and Viegi
C. panormitana subsp. ucriae now falls into the synon-
(1982) and more recently, with the use of molecular
ymy of C. panormitana subsp. panormitana.
techniques, by Hilpold et al. (2011). As defined by Cela
In the cladogram of Hilpold et al. (2011), based on
Renzoni and Viegi (1982), the aggregate comprises
amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) data,
seven species endemic to Italy (Pignatti & Lausi 1982;
our Centaurea busambarensis complex comes out as a
Conti et al. 2005), to which the Tunisian C. papposa
monophyletic unit, except for the fact that we
(Coss.) Greuter is to be added. Hilpold et al. (2011)
CONTACT Gianniantonio Domina gianniantonio.domina@unipa.it
This paper has been contributed in honor of Professor Avinoam Danin.
Supplemental data for this article (Electronic Supplements 1–2) can be accessed here https://doi.org/10.1080/07929978.2016.1257146.
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017