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Type: Article
Published: 2018-07-17
Page range: 269–281
Abstract views: 31
PDF downloaded: 1

Alyssum rossetii (Brassicaceae), a new species from the Aosta Valley in Italy based on morphological and genome size data

Institute of Botany, Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 23 Bratislava, Slovakia Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Benátská 2, CZ-128 01 Prague, Czechia
Am Berghang 17, D-48455 Bad Bentheim, Germany
Comitato Scientifico del Museo regionale di Scienze naturali “Efisio Noussan” – Regione autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Struttura Aree protette, loc. Amérique 127/a, 11020 Quart (Aosta), Italy
Botanical Garden of P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Mánesova 23, SK-043 52 Košice, Slovakia
Institute of Botany, Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 23 Bratislava, Slovakia
diploid endemic flow cytometry trichome morphology Western Alps Eudicots

Abstract

Alyssum rossetii, a stenoendemic madwort discovered on a mountain slope in the Valpelline valley (northern part of the Aosta Valley in the Pennine Alps), is described here as a new species. It is a perennial that is morphologically close to the Alyssum montanum-A. repens complex, with several hitherto neglected peculiar morphological characters. Here we present a full description of the new taxon, including information on its chromosome number, genome size and ecology, as well as a detailed morphological comparison of the new species with four related taxa occuring in the broader region, namely A. flexicaule, A. montanum, A. orophilum and A. rhodanense. Besides morphological differences, the new species also conspicuously differs from the other taxa in relative monoploid genome size. According to the IUCN Red List categories and criteria, it should be classified as Endangered.