Caryophyllaceae with a cushion-like life form occur with a large number of species at the higher altitudes of the Andes (3500–5000 m) and have evolved convergently in several different lineages. Based on molecular phylogenetic analysis it is shown that members of the former genera Plettkea and Pycnophyllopsis, but also certain species previously classified as Arenaria constitute a subclade nested within the monophyletic genus Stellaria. Both plastid (trnK-matK-psbA + trnL-F) and nuclear (nrITS) trees converged on such a highly supported ‘Plettkea’ clade. Morphologically, the members of the ‘Plettkea’ subclade of Stellaria are further characterized by reduced to completely absent petals and seeds with a more or less conspicuous tuberculate testa. This clade is described as S. sect. Plettkea (Mattf.) Montesinos & Borsch. Species-level relationships within S. sect. Plettkea are also congruently inferred by plastid and nuclear genomic compartments, with three further sublineages recognized: Altogether, our detailed taxonomic revision showed that the ‘Plettkea’ clade in fact constitutes an Andean radiation of 21 species within Stellaria, four of which are described as new to science. Earlier treatments indicated just a few species with a putative placement. The results of this investigation underscore the importance of fieldwork and integrated molecular-morphological approaches to assess the species diversity in Andean plant groups. In addition to the phylogenetic analysis, we provide a taxonomic backbone including all names and types, descriptions and information on distribution and ecology and a key for identification. Regarding the next relatives of the S. sect. Plettkea clade, our plastid trees depict the ‘Nitentes’ clade of Stellaria as sister, whereas nrITS instead suggests a sister group relationship of the ‘Nitentes’ with the speciose ‘Larbreae’ clade. Our inferred relationships of major clades further deviate from published molecular trees by indicating an early branching position of the ‘Petiolares’ clade.

Citation: Montesinos-Tubée D. B. & Borsch T. 2023: Molecular phylogenetics and morphology reveal the Plettkea lineage including several members of Arenaria and Pycnophyllopsis to be a clade of 21 South American species nested within Stellaria (Caryophyllaceae, Alsineae)

Version of record first published online on 21 December 2023 ahead of inclusion in December 2023 issue.

Las Caryophyllaceae, con forma de vida en matas o almohadillas, se encuentran en las mayores altitudes de los Andes (3500–5000 m) con un gran número de especies y han tenido una evolución convergente en diversos linajes. Análisis filogenéticos moleculares, recuperan un subclado anidado dentro del género monofilético Stellaria, constituido por los miembros previamente clasificados en Plettkea y Pycnophyllopsis y especies clasificadas hasta ahora en Arenaria. Tanto los árboles de plástidos (trnK-matK-psbA + trnL-F) como los nucleares (nrITS) convergen en un clado de ‘Plettkea’ altamente apoyado estadísticamente. Morfológicamente, los miembros del subclado ‘Plettkea’ de Stellaria se caracterizan, además, por compartir pétalos reducidos o completamente ausentes y semillas con un tegumento tuberculado más o menos conspicuo. El subclado se valida como S. sect. Plettkea (Mattf.) Montesinos & Borsch. Las relaciones a nivel de especie dentro de esta sección también se infieren congruentemente por compartimentos genómicos plastidiales y nucleares, con tres sublinajes. En conjunto, nuestra detallada revisión taxonómica mostró que el clado Plettkea constituye una radiación andina de 21 especies dentro de Stellaria, cuatro de las cuales se describen como nuevas para la ciencia. Tratamientos anteriores indicaban sólo unas pocas especies con una ubicación putativa. Los resultados de esta investigación destacan la importancia del trabajo de campo y la integración de métodos moleculares y morfológicos para evaluar la diversidad de especies en los grupos de plantas andinas. Además del análisis filogenético, proporcionamos una columna vertebral taxonómica que incluye todos los nombres y datos de los tipos nomenclaturales. Se proporcionan descripciones e información sobre distribución y ecología así como una clave para identificarlas. Con respecto a los parientes próximos del clado de S. sect. Plettkea, nuestros árboles de plástidos muestran al clado ‘Nitentes’ de Stellaria como hermano, mientras que nrITS sugiere más bien una relación de grupo hermano de los ‘Nitentes’ con el clado ‘Larbreae’. Las relaciones inferidas de los clados principales se desvían aún más de los árboles moleculares publicados previamente, al indicar una posición de ramificación temprana del clado ‘Petiolares’.

The checklist comprises 208 species and two varieties of Lycopodiopsida and Polypodiopsida. All historic literature records, mainly from Brause & Hieronymus (1910) and Pichi Sermolli (1983, 1985) have been revised. The pteridological results of 39 years of botanical exploration of the flora of Rwanda by Eberhard Fischer, have been added. Two new varieties (Pleopeltis macrocarpa var. dichotoma and P. macrocarpa var. pinnatiloba are validated.

Citation: Fischer E. & Lobin W. 2024: Checklist of Lycopodiopsida (clubmosses and quillworts) and Polypodiopsida (ferns) of Rwanda. – Willdenowia 53: 149–172.

Version of record first published online on 10 January 2024.

Here we describe 18 new species of the Marattialean genus Danaea: D. alba, D. ampla, D. antioquiana, D. elongata, D. kessleri and D. panamensis (all in D. subg. Danaea); D. dilatata and D. opaca (in D. subg. Arthrodanaea); and D. andina, D. cuspidopsis, D. erosa, D. nasua, D. peruviana, D. polypinna, D. pumila, D. robbinmoranii, D. ubatubensis, and D. velona (in D. subg. Holodanaea). We provide illustrations, maps of geographical distribution, and nomenclatural notes for the new species. We also lectotypify the name D. media and propose that its recent resurrection was a mistake: both D. media and D. elata are synonyms of D. nodosa, which is widespread in Central America and the Greater Antilles; we find that D. pterorachis is a valid name applicable to the Costa Rican material that has been referred to D. media. We consider D. sellowiana and D. nigrescens as distinct species and these names applicable to D. subg. Danaea material from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and Amazonia, respectively, and we also lectotypify the name D. nigrescens here. We accept D. cuspidata and D. betancurii as species distinct from D. moritziana. Evolutionary relationships and an identification key for the 79 species we currently recognize in Danaea are published in a parallel paper (Keskiniva & al. 2024).

Citation: Keskiniva V. & Tuomisto H. 2024: Danaea (Marattiaceae) keeps diversifying, part 1: eighteen new species. – Willdenowia 53: 173–228

Version of record first published online on 22 January 2024.

We have produced a near-complete phylogeny for the neotropical fern genus Danaea (Marattiaceae). The phylogeny is based on four loci of the chloroplast DNA and shows reconstructions of the evolutionary relationships between 68 of the currently recognized 81 taxa of Danaea. A parallel paper (Keskiniva & Tuomisto 2024) draws on this phylogeny to describe 18 new species; here we discuss the phylogeny and its taxonomical implications more broadly. We propose three new synonyms: D. atlantica Christenh. & al. (= D. geniculata), D. draco Christenh. (= D. polymorpha), and D. moralesiana A. Rojas (= D. erecta). On the other hand, we consider D. jamaicensis Underw., which has been synonymized before, to be a distinct species. In addition, we propose that D. ×ushana is a hybrid between D. simplicifolia and D. nigrescens. We also provide an open-access online key to the 81 taxa. The key is available at https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/neo_fern_genus_danaea/.

Citation: Keskiniva V., Tuomisto H. & Lehtonen S. 2024: Danaea (Marattiaceae) keeps diversifying, part 2: phylogeny and identification ke for 81 taxa – Willdenowia 53: 229–255

Version of record first published online on 22 January 2024.

A phytochorological and ecobiological study of the nine species, two subspecies and two varieties of the genera Aeonium and Greenovia in La Gomera is carried out, with special attention to F1 hybridization in nature. To the ten hybrids already described on the island, seven new hybrids were discovered, which are the subject of a separate publication. In all the known hybrids I determined whether the parents were sympatric or allopatric. The geographical coincidence of the parents was a sine qua non requirement for hybridization to occur in all the hybrids known so far, since pollen transfer by biotic and abiotic agents does not function between disjunct areas. The two prezygotic reproductive barriers that currently prevent interspecific hybridization in Aeonium or intergeneric hybridization between Aeonium and Greenovia are the geographic separation of populations and the different flowering times. The ability to survive and reproduce successfully of F1 hybrids in Aeonium and Greenovia is usually lower than that of the parent species and they generally disappear from the environment in the first filial generation without leaving offspring. The fundamental principles that govern F1 hybridization in La Gomera are extracted, and after verifying that they were also fulfilled in the other mountainous islands, they were synthesized in eight principles, which provide an updated vision of hybridization in the genus Aeonium.

Citation: Arango O. 2024: Principles governing F1 hybridization in the genera Aeonium and Greenovia in La Gomera, Canary Islands. – Willdenowia 53: 257–268

Version of record first published online on 23 January 2024.

Functional databases, that aim the aggregation and homogenization of functional trait data, constitute fundamental tools of ecological research, that increase data accessibility at global or regional scale. Grime's CSR (competitor, stress-tolerator, ruderal) life strategies is a prominent scheme of such functional data, for the fields of ecology and conservation biology. Here, we aimed at creating a new regional database of CSR strategies of plant taxa occurring in the northwestern Pindus Mountains, Greece. This database contains data across 481 taxa, calculated with the “Stratefy” method, through the measurement of three leaf traits. For the 48.02 % of these taxa, no CSR information was previously available in other databases. Additionally, we investigated the diversity of the CSR strategies between the general grassland and forest habitats occurring in the study area. We observed distribution of taxa mainly along the S–R axis for grassland habitats and the S–C axis for forest habitats. Finally, after comparing the CSR strategies of plant taxa calculated in our study with previously available CSR information from the literature, it is becoming prevalent that availability of such data at a local scale is crucial, since it can minimize the effects of undesirable characteristics of functional data aggregated from several different sources.

Citation: Mastrogianni A., Kiziridis D. A., Eleftheriadou A., Paradisiotis M., Pleniou M., Xystrakis F., Tsiftsis S. & Tsiripidis I. 2024: Contribution to the functional flora of Greece: a case study on the northwestern Pindus Mountains. – Willdenowia 53: 269-295.

Version of record first published online on 26 January 2024.

Alyssum rossetii is recorded for the first time in Spain from a single locality in the Pyrenees. After the type locality in the Valpelline valley (Pennine Alps, Italy), it is only the second known locality of this species. Morphology, diploid chromosome number (2n = 16), relative genome size, and ITS sequences confirm that the Pyrenean plants are conspecific with the Alpine ones and should be classified as A. rossetii. Phylogenetic analyses placed A. rossetii within the clade of A. sect. Gamosepalum comprising species from Turkey and demonstrated that A. rossetii is only distantly related to other Alyssum species occurring in the Pyrenees and adjacent regions: A. alyssoides, A. cacuminum, A. collinum, A. fastigiatum, A. granatense, A. montanum, and A. simplex. An identification key to all Alyssum species known from the Pyrenees is presented.

Citation: Š aniel S Mártonfiová L & Zozomová-Lihová J 2024: An unex ected occurrence of Al ssum rossetii (Brassicaceae) in the Pyrenees, a new species for the Spanish flora. – Willdenowia 53: 297–307

Version of record first published online on 29 January 2024.

There is a variety of taxonomic and nomenclatural databases, curated at different intervals and using different criteria to decide which species names are listed as accepted and which are considered synonyms. Botanical collections, such as herbaria or botanical gardens, maintain data that link names to plant material. The choice of the used database affects the naming of the plant specimens. If data from different institutions are to be matched, inconsistencies may arise. A solution that allows the use of different databases side by side would be beneficial in our opinion. The linking of botanical taxonomic and nomenclatural datasets by utilizing standardized Semantic Web technologies allows the coexistence of several lists. In this study, we conducted a mapping of The Plant List, World Flora Online, and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System provided in Darwin Core Archive files to the Simple Knowledge Organization System and created an interlinked version of these datasets. The developed graphical user interface visualized the contents of the included taxonomic databases. The usefulness and usability of the GUI were positively evaluated in interviews with five scientific employees and curators of four different botanical gardens.

Citation: Schrumpf A., Killinger M., Schiessle P. & Scherp A. 2024: On the coexistence of taxonomic botanical databases – a user study. – Willdenowia 53: 309–316. https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.53.53308

Version of record first published online on 01 February 2024.