The taxonomically complicated Crocus series Verni is characterized by high intra-and interspecific variability of karyotypes (2n = 8-23). With the aim to get more insights into complex karyotype evolution and to clarify the taxonomy of this group, we combined morphological (twelve characters), molecular (chloroplast DNA: trnL-trnF, ndhF; nuclear DNA: ITS, pCOSAt103) and karyological analyses. Samples of different populations of C. etruscus, C. ilvensis, C. kosaninii, C. tommasinianus, C. vernus sensu lato and C. longiflorus (series Longiflori) were analyzed. Quantitative karyotype parameters were calculated for all taxa involved based on the available literature. For the taxon traditionally known as C. vernus, the analyses suggest that it should be split in five species: C. heuffelianus, C. neapolitanus, C. neglectus sp. nov., C. siculus and C. vernus. The comparison of genome total haploid lengths suggests that in the evolution of the group polyploidization only played a role within the C. vernus species complex, where we also detected two hybridization events. In all other taxa, chromosome evolution is probably characterized by chromosome fusions and fissions, sometimes affecting the entire haploid chromosome set. Comparative cytogenetics of the group indicates that series Verni is subject to a peculiar type of unequal change in chromosome size, i.e., that not both chromosome arms gain or lose equally in DNA content. As a taxonomic consequence of our study, series Verni is newly circumscribed, now including the autumn-flowering C. longiflorus and excluding C. baytopiorum.

occurring from western Europe and northwestern Africa to western China, with the center of species diversity on the Balkan Peninsula and in Turkey. Many crocuses are known as popular ornamentals, and saffron, the dried styles of C. sativus L., is one of the world's most expensive spices. Molecular systematic studies (Petersen et al., 2008;Seberg and Petersen, 2009;Harpke et al., 2013) recently showed that several of the infrageneric taxonomic units of Mathew's (1982) revision of the genus are not monophyletic. Among them is series Reticulati B.Mathew of section Nudiscapus B.Mathew, with species occurring in the phylogenetic trees in clades intermingled with taxa of series Biflori B.Mathew and series Speciosi B.Mathew. Traditionally, within C. reticulatus, a species described from the Caucasus (Weber and Mohr, 1805), 2 subspecies are recognized on morphological grounds: subsp. reticulatus and subsp. hittiticus (T.Baytop & B.Mathew) B.Mathew (Mathew, 1982), occurring from Italy to southwestern Russia and Turkey. However, according to Mathew, subsp. reticulatus is highly heterogeneous, including 3 cytotypes with 2n = 10, 12, and 14 chromosomes. Under subsp. reticulatus Mathew (1982) subsumed as synonyms several taxa, such as, for instance, C. micranthus and C. variegatus. To arrive at a systematic treatment of Crocus that reflects natural relationships among taxa we are currently analyzing and circumscribing monophyletic units of the genus (Kerndorff et al., 2013;Harpke et al., 2014). Here we provide data for the C. reticulatus species group in its new definition based on 2 molecular data sets and morphological characters.Molecular markers are able to provide higher numbers of qualitative characters for closely related taxa

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Aims: Certain parts of the growing season have been proposed as optimal for recording relevant relevés of forests and dry grasslands and so the monitoring of these vegetation types has become more time-and cost-effective. We investigated whether it is possible to propose an optimal period during the year for making relevant relevés of emergent wetland vegetation. Location: Marshlands of the central Balkan Peninsula. Methods: One hundred and eighty-five permanent vegetation plots were investigated in three distinct time periods: spring, summer and autumn. In order to identify the communities, cluster analyses were carried out, and diagnostic species for each cluster were determined. The potential for temporal change of the communities regarding the species and life form composition was assessed using PERMANOVA and NMDS analyses. The Friedman test was used to assess the significance of seasonal change in the communities regarding their species richness, recordability and Shannon diversity. Results: The level of floristic similarity among the 11 phytocoenoses analyzed significantly varied over the growing season while the composition in terms of their diagnostic species remained unchanged. The majority of the communities showed statistically significant seasonal changes in the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the vegetation, life form composition and cover. Although different communities expressed significant modifications in these parameters between different pairs of seasons, all of them showed changes in the mentioned parameters between spring and autumn. The degree of intra-annual variation in the species richness, species recordability and Shannon diversity was low in almost all phytocoenoses. Conclusions: Summer is the optimal period for recording most of the species from the total list of the communities developed on hydrologically stable habitats, while spring is more appropriate for making relevés on periodically inundated habitats. The sampling time has negligible impact on the classification of associations but it could have important implications for the classification of higher-ranked syntaxonomic units of the class Phragmito-Magnocaricetea. K E Y W O R D S central Balkan Peninsula, emergent wetland vegetation, optimal sampling time, plant life forms, relevant relevés, seasonal variability, species composition, species cover, water regime | 201