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Research Article
Chromosome numbers for the Italian flora: 14
expand article infoAntonio Giacò‡, Angelino Carta‡, Jacopo Franzoni‡, Alessio Mo‡, Mario Pentassuglia‡, Lorenzo Peruzzi‡
‡ Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Corresponding author: Antonio Giacò ( antonio.giaco@biologia.unipi.it )

Academic editor: Gianniantonio Domina
© 2024 Antonio Giacò, Angelino Carta, Jacopo Franzoni, Alessio Mo, Mario Pentassuglia, Lorenzo Peruzzi.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Giacò A, Carta A, Franzoni J, Mo A, Pentassuglia M, Peruzzi L (2024) Chromosome numbers for the Italian flora: 14. Italian Botanist 17: 69-75. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.17.128997
Open Access

Abstract

In this contribution, new chromosome data obtained on material collected in Italy are presented. It includes the first counts for four subspecies of the Italian endemic Centaurea aplolepa Moretti, i.e. C. aplolepa subsp. aplolepa, C. aplolepa subsp. bertolonii, C. aplolepa subsp. levantina, and C. aplolepa subsp. parvula. In addition, the first chromosome count for an Italian population of Silene canescens (Caryophyllaceae) is provided.

Keywords

Asteraceae, Caryophyllaceae, Centaurea, cytotaxonomy, endemism, Silene

How to contribute

Texts concerning new chromosome data should be submitted electronically to Antonio Giacò (antonio.giaco@biologia.unipi.it), including indications on voucher specimens and methods used.

Chromosome counts

Centaurea aplolepa Moretti subsp. aplolepa (Asteraceae)

Chromosome number. 2n = 18 (Fig. 1).

Voucher specimen. Italy. Liguria. Capo Noli (Savona), sulle pareti rocciose (WGS84: 44.196751°N, 8.424978°E), 12 July 2023, A. Giacò, L. Peruzzi (PI066169).

Method. Squash preparations were made on root tips obtained from germinating seeds. Root tips were pre-treated with 0.4% colchicine for 3 h and then fixed in Carnoy solution for 1 h. After hydrolysis in 1N HCl at 60 °C for 7.5 minutes, the tips were stained with leuco-basic fuchsine.

Figure 1. 

Centaurea aplolepa Moretti subsp. aplolepa from Capo Noli (Savona), 2n = 18. Scale bar: 10 μm.

Observations. Centaurea aplolepa is endemic to the Tyrrhenian portion of central-northern Italy and includes ten subspecies (Greuter 2008). The autonymic subspecies is endemic to western Liguria, where it grows on garrigues and cliffs along the coastline (Arrigoni 2003). The chromosome number, obtained from seeds, is reported here for the first time, and is in accordance with chromosome counts previously published for other subspecies of C. aplolepa (Viegi et al. 1972; Viegi and Cela Renzoni1976).

A. Giacò, L. Peruzzi

Centaurea aplolepa Moretti subsp. bertolonii (Arrigoni) Greuter (Asteraceae)

Chromosome number. 2n = 18 (Fig. 2).

Voucher specimen. Italy. Liguria. Italia, Genova, nei pressi di Forte Sperone (WGS84: 44.437325°N, 8.931887°E), 12 July 2023, A. Giacò, L. Peruzzi (PI066182).

Method. Squash preparations were made on root tips obtained from germinating seeds. Root tips were pre-treated with 0.4% colchicine for 3 h and then fixed in Carnoy solution for 1 h. After hydrolysis in 1N HCl at 60 °C for 7.5 minutes, the tips were stained with leuco-basic fuchsine.

Figure 2. 

Centaurea aplolepa Moretti subsp. bertolonii (Arrigoni) Greuter from Genova, 2n = 18. Scale bar: 10 μm.

Observations. Centaurea aplolepa subsp. bertolonii is endemic to the hills over and west of Genova, showing a distribution range that is approximatively in-between those of C. aplolepa subsp. aplolepa to the west and C. aplolepa subsp. levantina and C. aplolepa subsp. lunensis to the east (Arrigoni 2003). The chromosome number, obtained from seeds, is reported here for the first time.

A. Giacò, M. Pentassuglia, L. Peruzzi

Centaurea aplolepa subsp. levantina (Arrigoni) Greuter (Asteraceae)

Chromosome number. 2n = 18 (Fig. 3).

Voucher specimen. Italy. Liguria. Sestri Levante (Genova) (WGS84: 44.269873°N, 9.38648°E), piccoli affioramenti rocciosi presso il molo, A. Giacò, L. Peruzzi (PI066170).

Method. Squash preparations were made on root tips obtained from germinating seeds. Root tips were pre-treated with 0.4% colchicine for 3 h and then fixed in Carnoy solution for 1 h. After hydrolysis in 1N HCl at 60 °C for 7.5 minutes, the tips were stained with leuco-basic fuchsine.

Figure 3. 

Centaurea aplolepa Moretti subsp. levantina (Arrigoni) Greuter from Sestri Levante (Genova), 2n = 18. Scale bar: 10 μm.

Observations. According to Arrigoni (2003), Centaurea aplolepa subsp. levantina is a coastal ecotype endemic to eastern Liguria. The chromosome number, obtained from seeds, is reported here for the first time.

A. Giacò, M. Pentassuglia, L. Peruzzi

Centaurea aplolepa subsp. parvula (Ces.) Arcang. (Asteraceae)

Chromosome number. 2n = 18 (Fig. 4).

Voucher specimen. Italy. Piemonte. Acqui Terme, su calanchi (WGS84: 44.58492°N, 8.35745°E), 12 August 2023, A. Mo (PI066166).

Method. Squash preparations were made on root tips obtained from germinating seeds. Root tips were pre-treated with 0.4% colchicine for 3 h and then fixed in Carnoy solution for 1 h. After hydrolysis in 1N HCl at 60 °C for 7.5 minutes, the tips were stained with leuco-basic fuchsine.

Figure 4. 

Centaurea aplolepa Moretti subsp. parvula (Ces.) Arcang. from Acqui Terme (Alessandria), 2n = 18. Scale bar: 10 μm.

Observations. Albeit Centaurea aplolepa subsp. parvula was not included by Arrigoni (2003) in his taxonomic revision of the Centaurea paniculata L. group, according to Bartolucci et al. (2024), this subspecies is endemic to Liguria and Piemonte. While in Liguria it is only reported for Rossiglione (Genova) (Gola 1912), the only record for Piemonte is represented by the type locality, at Acqui Terme (Alessandria). During a field trip, we found there several populations growing on badlands. The chromosome number, obtained from seeds, is reported here for the first time.

A. Giacò, A. Mo

Silene canescens Ten. (Caryophyllaceae)

Chromosome number. 2n = 24 (Fig. 5).

Voucher specimen. Italy. Toscana. Marina di Torre del Lago (Viareggio, Lucca), retroduna (WGS84: 43.829054°N, 10.253978°E), 15 Jun 2023, A. Mo (seeds collected and deposited at the germplasm bank of the Department of Biology, University of Pisa; a herbarium specimen collected from the same area in 2012 is conserved at PI under the barcode PI063832).

Method. Squash preparations were made on root tips obtained from germinating seeds. Root tips were pre-treated with 0.4% colchicine for 3 h and then fixed in Carnoy solution for 1 h. After hydrolysis in 1 N HCl at 60 °C for 8 minutes, the tips were stained with leuco-basic fuchsine.

Figure 5. 

Silene canescens Ten. from Torre del Lago (Toscana), 2n = 24. Scale bar: 10 μm.

Observations. Silene canescens Ten. is a psammophyte belonging to a species complex distributed throughout the sandy shores of southern Europe (Chater et al. 1993). Difficulties to delineate its distribution range are due to the confusion with the closely related S. colorata Poir. (Valsecchi 1995). In Italy, S. canescens is considered taxonomically doubtful, but it occurs in most of the Thyrrenian and Adriatic coasts (Bartolucci et al. 2024). Here we document the first chromosome count (2n = 2x = 24) for an Italian population of this species, which is line with previous karyological data (Blackburn and Morton 1957), also concerning the related S. colorata (Rice et al. 2015).

J. Franzoni, A. Carta, A. Mo

Acknowledgements

AG is thankful to G. Casazza for having provided precise locations of occurrence of Centaurea populations in Liguria.

References

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