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Table of contents

            Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
            Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
            Materials and methods  .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
            List of names, their publication details and type information ....................................................................................................... 4
            Concluding remarks................................................................................................................................................................... 206
            References.................................................................................................................................................................................. 208


            Abstract

            The census of the loci classici of 1,400 Italian endemic vascular plants (i.e. not thriving elsewhere with the exception of Corsica
            and Malta) is here presented and described. The effective place of publication of accepted names, basionyms and homotypic
            synonyms were identified and critically verified. This often resulted in some change in authorship attribution and, in seven
            cases, in validation problems (Asperula cynanchica var. lactea var. nov., A. lactea comb. nov., Biscutella laevigata subsp.
            raffaelliana subsp. nov., Ferulago nodosa subsp. geniculata comb. & stat. nov., Limonium tineoi comb. nov., L. usticanum sp.
            nov., Noccaea torreana comb. nov.). 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 holotype are 796. For 347
            names a lecto- or neo-typification is available in literature, while 449 currently accepted taxa still need of type designation.

            Key words: Alps, Apennines, Mediterranean, nomenclature, phytogeography, systematics, taxonomy


            Introduction

            The idea of an inventory of the loci classici of the plant taxa described in Italy was launched by Livio Poldini in the
            1970s, within the activities of the Floristic Group of the Italian Botanical Society. Although the inventory started in
            1980s, it lasted only for some time, under the coordination of Pier Virgilio Arrigoni, and as a result only a few
            papers were produced (Mariotti 1987–1988, Dal Vesco et al. 1987–1988). In 2010, notably the International Year
            of Biodiversity, the Floristic Group of the Italian Botanical Society decided to refuel the project.
                Currently, several ongoing worldwide projects aim at tracing the original materials used to describe vascular
            plant taxa and to identify, among them, the onomatophore types (Jarvis 2007, the most relevant).
                Italy has a well-known deep floristic knowledge, and a plethora  of  national  and local floras  have been
            published (i.e. Pignatti 1982a and literature cited therein). It hosts 76 herbaria, two thirds of which belong to
            academic institutions (Thiers 2014). Nevertheless, the nomenclatural types of most of the Italian taxa are still
            unknown, even for the endemic ones. This lack of knowledge places all activities involving the use of Italian
            plants—and consequently their names—on shaky foundations. Nomenclature and taxonomy are often neglected or
            avoided, due to the wrong belief that these branches of biological sciences are obsolete. On the contrary, scientific
            research becomes pointless, missing a correct taxonomic identification and use of names, and a mistaken
            application in everyday life can cause serious consequences both for economy and the human health (Kholia &
            Fraser-Jenkins 2011). This is also a fundamental pre-requisite for nature conservation and legislation.
                The Italian flora consists of 7,953 specific and subspecific taxa (Conti et al. 2005, updated by Peruzzi 2010),
            including units with European, Mediterranean or wider range (or even allochtonous taxa). Therefore, the project
            working group agreed to start working with the Italian endemics. Endemics are the most sensitive component of
            any country’s flora. Moreover, about 5% of the Italian endemics are of great potential economical interest being
            wild crop relatives (Domina et al. 2012).
                As a first step, a checklist of Italian endemics (including those taxa whose range overlays Corsica and/or
            Malta) was produced (Peruzzi et al. 2014, continuously updated at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/
            ccc?key=0AiJpWnsqul0MdG1hSkk1azBjN3BoLXB4VTAzc3l1Smc#gid=0). This resulted in a list of 1,400
            specific and subspecific taxa (as of 31 December 2014).
                The census aims to improve the floristic knowledge of the Italian territory and the biogeographical knowledge.
            It is harmonised with the project “Flora Critica d’Italia”, i.e. the set of actions dealing with the redaction of a
            modern Flora of Italy. This project is promoted by the Italian Botanical Society and supported by the Foundation
            “Fondazione per la Flora Critica d’Italia” (Pignotti 2006, Foggi et al. 2007a–b, 2010, Blasi 2014, Cecchi & Selvi
            2014, Troìa & Greuter 2014). This research can be considered as a first step for further investigations that will
            include typification of the names still lacking a type designation, study of original materials or topotypical
            populations for morphometric analyses, karyological investigations, DNA barcoding, studies on genetic variability
            and so on (Domina et al. 2012, 2014, Passalacqua et al. 2014).


            NAMES OF VASCULAR PLANTS ENDEMIC TO ITALY                     Phytotaxa 196 (1)  © 2015 Magnolia Press  •   3
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