Phylogenetic relationships, biogeography and taxonomic revision of European taxa of Gymnospermium (Berberidaceae)

The genus Gymnospermium (Berberidaceae) in Italy: identity and relationships of the populations at the western limit of the genus range

“…The Italian plants resulted intermediate between G. scipetarum and those previously referred to G. maloi. At present, however, the latter is considered conspecific with the former (Barina et al 2017), and this supports the inclusion of all these populations in G. scipetarum. The only relevant morphological differences between the Italian and the Balkan plants were the lower ratios stamen:petal length (1.3 vs. 1.5-1.7) and style:carpel length (0.3 vs. 0.5; Supplementary Table S1).…”

“…Morphology largely supports its close similarity to the populations from Albania and Montenegro, all of which were considered to belong to G. scipetarum (Barina et al 2016) also based on genetic evidence (Barina et al 2017). Both morphometric and molecular data suggested that G. maloi, previously recognized as a separate species endemic to south Albania (Tan et al 2011), should be considered a heterotypic synonym of G. scipetarum because not sufficiently distinct.…”

“…For morphological data analyses after variables standardization, a homogeneity test of multivariate dispersion within groups (PERMDISP; Anderson, 2004) was carried out before checking for differences in character values between the three subpopulations using non-parametric permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA; Anderson, 2005) based on Euclidean distances. Range, mean and standard deviation values (when available) were compared with those of other taxa analyzed in previous studies (Loconte and Estes 1989, Tan et al 2011, Barina et al 2017. Morphological data for G. scipetarum, G. peloponnesiacum and the population previously referred to G. maloi were taken from Tan et al (2011), while those of G. odessanum and G. smirnovii were taken from Loconte and Estes (1989) and integrated by original measurements on herbarium specimens kept in KW, KWHU and FI.…”

“…Using a morphometric approach, Barina et al (2016) showed substantial overlap in some quantitative characters of leaves, stems and seeds and suggested the conspecific status of the two Balkan taxa. In addition, lack of genetic divergence between them was shown in a recent molecular investigation of the European species (Barina et al 2017), and it was concluded that only three species should be recognized in the continent, G. odessanum, G. peloponnesiacum and G. scipetarum, the latter including G. maloi.…”

“…In the recent checklist of the native Italian flora, in fact, these were referred to G. scipetarum but considered as "taxonomically doubtful"; in addition, the latter was considered as "a doubtfully native taxon whose origin of occurrence in Italy is unknown" (Bartolucci et al 2018). No answers to these doubts were provided in the recent biogeographic analysis of Gymnospermium by Barina et al (2017), which did not include the Italian plants, nor taxa from central Asia such as G. albertii (Regel) Takht. and G. darwasicum (Regel) Takht.…”