Morphological diversity and taxonomy of the Pimpinella tragium VILL. group (Umbelliferae – Apioideae) in the Mediterranean

Abstract

Variability of morphological characters in Pimpinelk tragium VILL. group was investigated using herbarium material natural populations field sampling and cultivated plants. As a result of anatomical and morphological research, and by means of Principal Component Analysis and Canonical Variance Analysis, two polymorphic species were distinguished -P. tragium VILL. with hairs 0.05-0.2 mm long and P. polyclada BOISS. & HELDR. with hairs 0.3-1 mm long. Both polymorphic taxa include forms differing in density of pubescence and leaf dissection. Distribution of pinnatisect and bipinnatisect leaf forms over the range corresponds to the pattern of summer precipitation and duration of the drought period. In P. tragium several ecotypes could be distinguished, differing in leaf shape and structure, life history and development rhythm. However, recognition of infraspecific taxa is inexpedient and can misrepresent the complicated pattern of morphological variability within P. tragium VILL. IntroductionPimpinella tragium VILL. is a widespread complex of species with great morphological variability and confused taxonomy. It is distributed in the Mediterranean from Spain to Lebanon, in North-West Africa, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, the Central Kopet-Dagh and in the South of the East European Plain.Most taxonomists (BOISSIER 1872; HALACSY 190 1 ; WOLFF 1927) considered P. rragium VJLL.Z u s a m m e n f a s s u n g to be a polymorphic species with several varieties, some widespread over the range of P. tragium, and others are restricted in their distribution. Nevertheless some hardly distinguishable races from Russia and neighbouring tenitories have been treated until now as species (SCHISCHKlN 1950a, b; PIMENOV & TIKHO-MIROV 1981, 1995. SCHISCHKIN recognized nine species, differing in leaf blade dissection, umbel ray number, hair density, fruit size and stylodium length, characters used to char-480 Feddes Repert., Berlin 109 (1998) 7-8 acterize varieties of P. trugiurn in Europe. He did not take into account variability of the characters and transitional forms, so the species identification has been a great problem.TUTIN ( 1968a, b), MATTHEWS ( 1972) Minor.Every taxon described in the P. tragiurn group was characterized by several features, each representing only a small part of general range of values observed in this group. The broad morphological variation of some taxa and transitional forms among them has complicated the taxonomy of this polymorphic group, making the taxonomic rank and relations of the intraspecific taxa uncertain.The aims of our research were I ) to estimate morphological variability in the P. trugiurn group, 2 ) to throw light in differentiation trends in P. trugiurn and 3) to make new taxonomic proposals. Material and methodsWe studied about 2000 specimens from 20 herbaria (B, BAK, BM, DNZ, E, ERE, G, GAL, K, KW, LE, M, MHA, MPU, MW, SO, SOM, TBI. W, YALT) and more than 1500 specimens from 23 natural populations from Asia, the Caucasus, the Crimea, Bulgaria and the East European Plain. We determined leaf sh...

Pimpinella tragium Vill. subsp. lithophila (Schischk.) Tutin (Apiaceae), a new taxon in Croatian flora

“…Based on anatomical and morphological study of the P. tragium group, two types of plants differing mainly in the hair length on leaves and on the lower part of the stem can be distinguished. P. tragium with hairs 0.05-0.2 mm long and P. polyclada 0.3-1 mm long (YURTSEVA and TIKHOMIROV 1998). Although the taxonomy of the P. tragium group has been studied by YURTSEVA and TIKHOMIROV (1998), it still remains unclear and unresolved.…”

“…P. tragium with hairs 0.05-0.2 mm long and P. polyclada 0.3-1 mm long (YURTSEVA and TIKHOMIROV 1998). Although the taxonomy of the P. tragium group has been studied by YURTSEVA and TIKHOMIROV (1998), it still remains unclear and unresolved. YURTSEVA and TIKHOMIROV (1998) suggest including P. tragium subsp.…”

“…Pimpinella tragium represents a variable group of taxa with great morphological variability and confused taxonomy (TUTIN 1968 a, b;YURTSEVA and TIKHOMIROV 1998). Some authors (TUTIN 1968 a, b;MATTHEWS 1972;ENGSTRAND 1987;BRULLO and BRULLO 2009) …”

“…Among them is P. tragium Vill. which is distributed in the Mediterranean area from Spain to Lebanon, north-west Africa, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and in the south of the East European Plain (YURTSEVA and TIKHOMIROV 1998). In the countries and territories around Croatia and the Adriatic basin, P. tragium has been noted for Italy (PIGNATTI 1982, CONTI et al 2005, Serbia (SARI] and DIKLI] 1986), Macedonia (MATEVSKI 2005), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BECK-MANNAGETTA 1927), Montenegro (ROHLENA 1942), Albania (QOSJA et al 1992) and Greece (HARTVIG 1968).…”

Phylogeny of the Southwest Asian Pimpinella and related genera based on nuclear and plastid sequences

“…Recently, Yurtseva and Tikhomirov (1998) reassessed the classification of P. tragium. They believed that the recognition of infraspecific taxa is impractical and can misrepresent the complicated pattern of morphological variability within P. tragium.…”