Section Pseudophrys is a taxonomically critical species complex that has a history of circumscriptional uncertainty, suggesting the need for further evaluation. Its taxonomy in the Iberian Peninsula has been controversial, with treatments ranging from three species and three subspecies to ten species. Extensive observations in the field and analysis of morphological characters based on 50 populations sampled show that most of the characters used by previous authors for distinguishing the species are variable among or even within populations. In the present study, representatives from the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco were investigated using morphometric and molecular (nuclear ribosomal ITS sequences) analyses. Seventeen floral characters and, in addition, four ratios, were measured from 642 live plants belonging to 50 populations of representatives of sect. Pseudophrys ( Ophrys arnoldii , O. bilunulata , O. dianica , O. fusca and O. lupercalis ). To determine characters distinguishing different species and to examine their circumscription, we performed morphometric analyses on three different subsets of sect. Pseudophrys , one with all the currently recognized species, another containing the closely related O. bilunulata and O. dianica , and finally the populations of O. arnoldii and O. lupercalis . These populations were treated as Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and studied using cluster analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and canonical discriminant analysis (CDA); box plots of selected quantitative characters were also made. Finally, variation in nrITS sequences among eight members of sect. Pseudophrys was analysed phylogenetically. Our results indicate that sect. Pseudophrys is monophyletic and well supported. We maintain the recognition of all taxa studied except O. arnoldii , and do not recognize any new taxa based on our examinations of the different populations of O. lupercalis .

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Amich F., García-Barriuso M. and Bernardos S. 2007. Polyploidy and speciation in the orchid flora of the Iberian Peninsula. Bot. Helv. 117: 143 -157.The Iberian Peninsula, located at the western end of the Mediterranean Basin, is home to some 122 orchid species (1.5 % of the vascular plant flora). The high orchid species diversity, including 23 % of endemic species, suggests that there may be a high rate of polyploidy among Iberian orchids, given the overall importance of polyploidy in plant evolution. Chromosome numbers for 73 taxa of native Iberian orchids were obtained from published literature and additional karyological investigations. Based on the possession of three or more basic chromosome sets in a nucleus (indicating infrageneric polyploidy), 29 of these species (39.7 %) were polyploids. When taxa with haploid chromosome numbers of n ! 14 or n ! 11 were considered to be polyploids (to include also paleopolyploids), the number of polyploids rose to 61 species (83.6 %) and 68 species (93.1 %), respectively. Several species-rich groups, such as Dactylorhiza and Ophrys showed particularly high proportions of infrageneric polyploidy (83.3 % and 31.8 % respectively). Examples of polyploids in other genera, (e.g. Epipactis) support the idea that this phenomenon, and in particular infrageneric polyploidy, may have contributed to the evolutionary diversification of orchids in the Iberian Peninsula.

The aim of this study is to determine the conservation status of Scrophularia valdesii Ortega-Olivencia & Devesa, a threatened narrow endemism of the Duero Basin (central-western Spain and north-eastern Portugal, Lusitan Duriensean biogeographical sector), by using the IUCN (2001) IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commision. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. The species is listed as threatened in several Spanish compilatory works on threatened flora, such as 'The Spanish Red List of Vascular Flora' and the 'Atlas and Red Book of Threatened Vascular Flora of Spain', although it does not figure as such in any Portuguese document.Here we report detailed studies of its distribution, and assess its current conservation status with respect to this, the sizes of its populations, and the threats it faces. Our estimation of the size of the Iberian populations was based on our own census data from those sites at which we found the species. All censuses were performed by direct counting of all potentially reproductive individuals. Fourteen populations were found, and the total members thought to exist are 161, with a highly fragmented distribution on the Spanish-Portuguese border along the valley of the River Duero. Exhaustive bibliographical and field surveys were carried out and herbarium specimens housed in several herbaria were revised in order to determine the Extent of Occurrence and the Area of Occupancy. Based on our data, the species is classifiable as Critically Endangered and Endangered in Portugal and Spain, respectively. The risk of local population extinction is high due to its typically small local population sizes and suitable conservation strategies should be developed in order to preserve the species.

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