Santolina montiberica (Rivero-Guerra) R. Carbajal, L. Sáez, M. Serrano

Carbajal, Rodrigo, Serrano, Miguel, Ortiz, Santiago & Sáez, Llorenç, 2017, Two new combinations in Iberian Santolina (Compositae) based on morphology and molecular evidences, Phytotaxa 291 (3), pp. 217-223 : 219-221

Santolina montiberica (Rivero-Guerra) R. Carbajal, L. Sáez, M. Serrano & S. Ortiz, comb. & stat. nov.

≡ Santolina pectinata subsp montiberica Rivero-Guerra (2011: 187) .

Type :— SPAIN. Cuenca province: Olmeda del Rey, on marl, 39º48’53’’ N, 2º4’22’’ W, 910 m, 1 July 1998, A. O. Rivero-Guerra s. n. ( SEV 239492 , holotype; not traced, probably on loan) .

Santolina montiberica is endemic to the Iberian System mountain range, mainly to the southern part of the Cuenca province, where it grows on soils derived from limestones, marl, gypsiferous marl and clay, at altitudes of 740–1140 m. Frequently this taxon grows also in disturbed areas, like embankments of highways.

2. Santolina chamaecyparissus var. vedranensis Bolòs & Vigo (1987: 90)

Bolòs & Vigo (1987) described a variety of S. chamaecyparissus from Es Vedrà islet (East coast of Ibiza, Western Balearic Islands). They considered this taxon taxonomically related to the Balearic endemic S. magonica , which is restricted to the Eastern Balearic Islands (Majorca and Minorca). Santolina chamaecyparissus var. vedranensis was raised to the subspecies level by Romo (1994). Greuter (2008) accepted it in his treatment of the genus Santolina for Med-Cheklist. A detailed examination of the material of S magonica var. vedranensis , including the type material and specimens collected by one of us (L.S.) from wild populations, led us to conclude that plants from the Es Vedrà islet conspicuously differ from those in the eastern Balearic Islands by their unbranched peduncles (versus often branched), larger capitules (10–16 mm wide versus 6–10 mm wide) and sparsely hairy (versus densely hairy) involucral bracts. Moreover, plants from the Es Vedrà can be easily distinguished among the species of S. chamaecyparissus aggr. from eastern Iberian Peninsula ( S. villosa ) by their larger leaves (10–33 × 1.5–5 mm versus 4–20 × 0.8–3 mm in S. villosa ), larger capitula (10–16 mm wide versus 7.5–12.5 mm wide in S. villosa ) and the indument of involucral bracts (sparsely hairy versus glabrous in S. villosa ). Morphological relationships with the Pyrenean endemic S. benthamiana are rather scarce. The preliminary results in our chloroplast phylogeny demonstrated that this taxon is more closely related to the Iberian species S. villosa and S. benthamiana than to the Balearic species S. magonica ( Fig. 1 ).

On the basis of the morphological features, phylogenetic relationships and allopatric distribution, the specific rank better reflects the taxonomic singularity of the populations treated as S. magonica subsp. vedranensis . Therefore, the following nomenclatural change is hereby proposed:

Figures

FIGURE 1. Strict consensus tree obtained with parsimony analysis from ongoin molecular studies (Carbajal et al., unpublished).Bootstrap values over 60% are shown above branches.