Search results for "Characeae"
showing 9 items of 9 documents
The role of herbaria for taxonomic and distributional studies in Characeae: examples from the Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum (PAL) and the Flor…
2018
Characeae is a taxonomically critical family. Taxonomical uncertainties inevitably affect its distributional data. The role of herbarium specimens, particularly types and original material, is crucial for unravelling taxonomical ‘knots’. Moreover, wet areas have undergone dramatic reduction and modification in the last century and historical herbarium specimens may represent basic documents for the reconstruction of former distributions. Some preliminary data from two different Italian Herbaria are here presented. The Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum (PAL, the standard acronym according to the Index herbariorum, http://sweetgum.nybg.org/ ih) houses four folders of Characeae exsiccata. T…
The role of Characeae in the communities of the vegetation class Potametea
2018
The stonewort vegetation is commonly classified into the phytosociological class Charetea fragilis F. Fukarek ex Krausch 1964; however, the Characeae are not exclusively found in vegetation stands ascribed to this class but also in other habitat types. In our preliminary investigations, we draw the attention to the relationship between the classes Charetea fragilis and Potametea pectinati Klika in Klika & Novák 1941 in some Sicilian biotopes. In some cases, the Charetea vegetation is ecologically and spatially distinct, although close, from that referable to the Potametea. In some other cases, one or more species of Characeae are structurally intrinsic to the vegetation of Potametea: on…
Pre-Linnaean illustrations as original material of Linnaean Chara names (Characeae)
2018
Wood (1960) investigated about the types of the four names of Characeae published by Linnaeus (1753) in his Species Plantarum. He focussed on the herbarium specimens forgetting the images mentioned in the protologues. Here we list and present the pre-Linnaean illustrations that have to be considered “original material” (according to the International Code of Nomenclature) for the mentioned names. Chara tomentosa L. - Wood (1960) defined the specimen 1088.1 in the herbarium LINN as “holotype”, actually it is a lectotype (as well reported in The Linnaean Plant Name Typification Project, http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ our-science/data/linnaean-typification) because of the two different figures cited in…
New records of Characeae for Sicily (Italy)
2018
During the last year, the first two authors continued their survey of the scarcely known Characeae flora of the island of Sicily: plants were collected in different periods, habitats and areas of the island, and identifications – made on fresh material – were based mainly on Mouronval et al. (2015). We had the opportunity to include here some results deriving from the visit in Sicily made by Klaus van de Weyer in March 2018. Roman Romanov identified some specimens and revised some identifications. Data for Sicily are basically limited to more than one hundred years old reports; data for the national Flora have been completed with recent reports for Sardinia (cf. the work made by Ralf Becker…
22nd Meeting of the Group of European Charophytologists (GEC)
2019
The 22nd Meeting of the Group of European Charophytologists (GEC) was held from 17 to 21 September 2018 in Palermo. It was convened by the International Research Group on Charophytes (IRGC) and org...
Charophytes for description and monitoring of inland waters in Sicily
2017
The island of Sicily, in the center of the Mediterranean basin, is a well-known biodiversity hotspot (Médail & Quézel, 1997). Unfortunately, the knowledge of its charophyte flora is absolutely unsatisfactory. The few available data derive from some scattered phytosociological works and some articles published more than 100 years ago. According to the last national synthesis (Bazzichelli & Abdelahad, 2009) a total of 19 Charophytes species should occur in the island, distributed in 4 genera: Chara L. (11), Nitella Agardh (5), Tolypella (A. Braun) A. Braun (2) and Lamprothamnium J. Groves (1). However an updated list of the species occurring in the island, together with their distribu…
One Chara does not make Charetea in the Mediterranean aquatic vegetation
2019
The results of preliminary phytosociological investigations on freshwater communities of Sicily biotopes with a significant presence of Characeae are presented. In spite of the relatively frequent occurrence of Characeae, a typical Charetea intermediae vegetation is rather rare in the investigated biotopes. Indeed, the Characeae are mainly part of communities attributable to the classes Potamogetonetea, Phragmito-Magnocaricetea, Juncetea maritimi and Isoeto-Nanojuncetea. Some ecological and functional implications are discussed, along with some consequences on conservation measures and policies, caused by the lack of knowledge on the Characeae of Sicily.
New records and observations to the Characean flora (Charales, Charophyceae) of Sicily (Italy)
2019
New records to the Characean flora of Sicily are presented. Five species (Chara baltica, C. conimbrigensis, C. oedophylla, Nitella gracilis, Tolypella salina) are new to Sicily, two of them being also new to Italy (Chara conimbrigensis, C. oedophylla). Two species are confirmed for Sicily (Chara aspera, Nitella opaca), three (Chara braunii, C. canescens, Nitella capillaris) are rare taxa. The Characean flora of Sicily, updated with these records, currently includes 25 species, distributed in four genera: Chara (13 species), Nitella (eight species), Tolypella (three species) and Lamprothamnium (one species).