Alyssum doerfleri Degen

Bernardo, Liliana, Maiorca, Giovanni, Roma-Marzio, Francesco & Peruzzi, Lorenzo, 2018, Alyssum doerfleri Degen (Brassicaceae), new for the Italian flora, Phytotaxa 334 (1), pp. 10-18 : 15-16

Alyssum doerfleri Degen in Degen & Dörfler (1897: 708)

Type ( lectotype, designated by Strid 1986: 294):— GREECE. Macedon. Centr. In fissuris rupium reg. alp. mtis Kossov pr. Zborsko. 25 June , I. Dörfler, Iter Turcicum secundum, 1893, num. 48 ( W; isotypes G, B (barcode B109009206 ! image available at http://herbarium. bgbm.org/object/ B109009206 , A (barcode 00018496! image available at http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/specimen_search. php?mode=details&id=46329).

Description of the Italian population:—Ash-grey, densely caespitose perennial; stem ascending (4–) 5.5–12 cm (up to 20 cm in fruit). Flowering stems densely foliose with leaves (13–)15–22(–30) × (1–)2–2.6(–3) mm, linear, acute to slightly apiculate, with lepidote-stellate hairs and numerous asymmetrical stellate hairs above and on the margins. Non-flowering shoots whit leaves (10–)13–16(–30) × (1–)1.4–2.0(–2.2) mm, densely covered only with lepidote-stellate hairs with numerous repeatedly furcate and apparently anastomosing rays. Sepals (4.3–) 4.6–6 mm, with a tuft of long, divergent-rayed hairs at the apex, the outer ones saccate at the base. Petals 7–9.5 mm long, obovate-cuneate, pure yellow. Short stamens with free appendage, long stamens with a narrow bilateral wing. Racemes elongated in fruit, (2.5–)3–4.5(–6.5) cm. Silicules 4.5–5.3(–6) × 4.5–5.3(–6) mm, elliptical, emarginated to slightly retuse, valves inflated, with flat margin, style 3.2–4 mm. Ovules 2 in each locule. Seeds 1.8–2.1 mm, unwinged.

Habitat:—Rocks, gravels and stony cliff pastures on limestone.

Phenology:—Flowering in May–June, fruiting in June–July.

Conservation status:—Not Evaluated (NE) at global level, but previously included in the 1997 IUCN Red List ( Walter & Gillett 1998) as a ‘Rare’ species. Regional assessment for Italy: this species is assessed here as Critically Endangered CR [B1ab(iii) + B2ab(iii)], according to IUCN protocol ( IUCN 2017), because of a restricted range (< 100 km 2), a small occupied surface (< 10 km 2), occurrence in a single location, which is subjected to habitat degradation due to intense horse grazing causing obvious nitrification of stony cliff pastures. As a result, many individuals, during the summer season, are evidently affected by chlorosis phenomena.

Specimens documenting the new record for Italy:— ITALY. Calabria: Cerchiara di Calabria, Monte Sellaro vetta, pascoli aridi montani, 1439 m, 6 June 2003, G. Maiorca, V. Liguori s.n. (Herb. Maiorca-Caprio n. 2855!) ; Settore orientale del Massiccio del Pollino, M. te Sellaro, sopra il Santuario Madonna delle Armi, Cerchiara di Calabria (Cosenza), prato roccioso su calcare, 1337 m, 15 July 2004, L. Bernardo, D. Gargano, A Ruffo s.n. ( CLU n. 24472!) ; Cima del Monte Sellaro, Cerchiara di Calabria (prov. Cosenza), 1439 m, rocce e sfatticcio di cresta, calcare, 17 June 2017, L. Bernardo, G. Maiorca s.n. ( CLU n. 25899!) ; ibidem, 30 August 2017, L. Peruzzi s.n. ( PI n. 007095!) .