Limonium fragile

Koutroumpa, Konstantina, 2024, Limonium artelariae (Plumbaginaceae), a new endemic species and further taxonomic and floristic notes on the genus in the island of Crete, Willdenowia 54 (1), pp. 65-79 : 70

Limonium fragile was erroneously reported for Crete

Limonium fragile Erben & Brullo is a small species, up to 15 cm tall, bearing delicate branches, and has been reported from only few localities in Karpathos, Crete and Antikythira islands by Brullo & Erben (2016). Its occurrence in Crete is based on a specimen collected from the saline habitats of Olous near Elounda in NE Crete ( Hansen 1066, PAL-Gr!; Brullo & Erben 2016). The specimen was originally identified as L. virgatum by W. Greuter in 1974, but Brullo & Erben (2016) later assigned it to L. fragile possibly on the basis of its small size. Hybrids between L. fragile and L. virgatum have also been reported from Crete by Brullo & Erben (2016), based on material collected from the same locality (i.e. salt marshes in Olous, H. Kalheber 99-192, herb. Kalheber!). The latter specimen comprises immature individuals collected in early spring. Olous and the surrounding areas in Elounda were visited twice during the fieldwork, but an extensive search failed to find representatives of L. fragile . However, a very large population of L. virgatum was observed with plants of different sizes, some of them very small, growing on the saline basins that were seasonally flooded. All the material collected from this region clearly represents L. virgatum . Field observations and the examination of several specimens from Elounda, including the Cretan L. fragile specimens seen by Brullo & Erben (2016), support the view that small and immature individuals of L. virgatum from Olous were misidentified as L. fragile or L. fragile × L. virgatum by Brullo & Erben (2016). Therefore, L. fragile is to be regarded as absent from Crete and plants growing in Olous (Elounda) in NE Crete belong to L. virgatum .