Based on recent investigations, 1455 endemic taxa occur in Italy, representing 18% of the national native vascular flora. This makes this country the second richest in the Mediterranean area. Many of these taxa were described solely on a qualitative morphological basis and without sufficient consideration of other biological and/or ecological aspects. Hence, many significant case studies can be selected among Italian endemics to exemplify a new, integrative approach to plant systematics and taxonomy. A strong nomenclatural basis is available for all these taxa, derived from several years of intense collaborative studies. This makes the Italian endemics the ideal choice for wider collaborative and in-depth investigations on the national floristic heritage. We propose an integrated systematic study on selected Italian endemic taxa aiming to fill the existing gaps. In particular, we intend to provide a range of information by an integration of various methodologies: morphological and morphometric analyses, morpho-colorimetric analysis of seeds, micro-morphology of seed testa and pollen grains, chromosome number and other basic karyological features, DNA barcoding, ecological niche modelling, also in a conservation perspective.

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Partner
PRIN 2017
MUR
€ 97.256,00