Oenothera italica Rostański & Soldano, 2019

Woźniak-Chodacka, Monika, 2019, Validation of the name Oenothera italica (Onagraceae), Phytotaxa 387 (3), pp. 262-264 : 262-263

Oenothera italica Rostański & Soldano , sp. nov.

Oenothera italica Rostański & Soldano (1981: 376) , nom. inval. (ICN Art. 40.1 & 40.2; Turland et al. 2018; without a holotype designation). Type: — ITALY. Toscana: Viareggio [cultivated in Katowice, Poland, in H. Chełkowska’s garden, from seeds collected by A. Soldano], 5 September 1979, Rostański 9/79/2 (holotype KTU 101877!, Figure 1 ).

Paratype: — ITALY. Toscana: Viareggio [cultivated in Katowice, Poland, in H. Chełkowska’s garden, from seeds collected by A. Soldano], 13 September 1979, Rostański 9/79 WRSL! [a single specimen mounted on two sheets] (barcodes 4010177‒78).

Validating diagnosis: —“ Ab Oe. chicaginensis De Vries ex Renner 1933 [ Renner & Cleland 1934]: 275 different caule atrorubro, inflorescentia breviore, hypanthiis longioribus (ad 48 mm longis), sepalorum apicibus tenuioribus et longioribus (ab 8 mm longis) et denticulis fructus longioribus. Ab Oe. heiniana Teyber 1896: 469 (cuius specimina in Herbariis W et WU asservatur) different petalis latioribus, apicibus sepalorum longioribus, capsulis longioribus (ad 40 mm longis) et denticulis earum apice truncatis, non obtuso acutiusculis ” ( Rostański & Soldano 1981: 376).

Description: — Rostański & Soldano (1981: 376).

Etymology: —The species epithet refers to Italy from where the species was described.

Flowering time: —From the middle of July to September ( Rostański & Soldano 1981, Soldano 1993).

Distribution: —The species was discovered in the province of Toscana in Central Italy ( Rostański & Soldano 1981). Since then, it has been observed only in few localities in Toscana and Liguria regions ( Soldano 1993) however, the actual distribution of the species may be underestimated due to some general difficulties in taxa delimitation and recognition within the typical subsection of the genus.

In KTU I have also seen one specimen from France, labelled by K. Rostański as “ O. italica ?” however, despite its relatively long hypanthia, this individual seems to be quite distant from the specimens previously found in Italy.

Taxonomic status: —The taxonomists accepting the narrow species concept within the considered genus, i.e. Soldano (1993) and Rostański (2006, Rostański et al. 2010) treat O. italica as a separate species. On the other hand, according to Dietrich et al. (1997), O. italica is only one of few dozen (or even possible hundreds) strains which should be treated only as a part of intraspecific variability of very widely considered O. biennis Linnaeus (1753: 346) . However, due to the fact that in 1997 the name was still not validly published, O. italica could not have been included by Dietrich and his co-workers in the list of synonyms of O. biennis .

The actual taxonomic status as well as its distribution need to be reconsidered.

Genetic features: —During meiosis, all 14 chromosomes from the diploid set join with each other to create a single ring ( Soldano 1993).

Notes: —The specimen designated here as the holotype has well preserved flowers with clearly visible long hypanthia but it lacks the lower part of the stem ( Figure 1 ) whereas the individual indicated as the paratype comprises the whole stem and inflorescence parts but does not have any flowers.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Holotype of Oenothera italica Rostański & Soldano (KTU 101877).