Research Article |
Corresponding author: Lorenzo Maggioni ( l.maggioni@cgiar.org ) Academic editor: Fabrizio Bartolucci
© 2019 Lorenzo Maggioni, Alessandro Alessandrini.
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:
Maggioni L, Alessandrini A (2019) The occurrence of Brassica montana Pourr. (Brassicaceae) in the Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche, and in the Republic of San Marino. Italian Botanist 7: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.7.31727
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Brassica montana Pourr., a wild relative of the Brassica oleracea L. cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc.), deserves special attention for its potential to easily transfer agronomically useful traits to related crops. Monitoring existing B. montana populations is the first step to enabling long-term conservation and management of wild genetic resources. The main distribution area of B. montana extends along the coasts of the northern Mediterranean Sea from north-east Spain to north-west Italy (coast of Liguria and Apuan Alps in Tuscany). Further east and south, the distribution of B. montana is fragmentary, with isolated populations, in some cases, only observed in the 19th or early 20th century and never re-confirmed later. In this paper, we focus on all the B. montana reports for the Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche, and additionally for the neighbouring Republic of San Marino. Literature records were verified through field visits where possible. According to our analysis, the presence of B. montana is confirmed in the Marche and the Republic of San Marino, but not in Emilia-Romagna. We recommend further studies on the distribution of B. montana in Italy, also applying molecular means, beyond morphology, to distinguish B. montana from naturalized B. oleracea and other related taxa.
Brassica montana, Northern Apennine, crop wild relatives
Brassica montana Pourr. (Brassicaceae), belongs to B. sect. Brassica, which includes the taxa sharing the same C genome (x = 9) with the B. oleracea L. cole crops, as proposed by
Brassica montana is distributed along the coasts of the northern Mediterranean Sea from north-eastern Spain to south-western Italy. In Italy, B. montana is more common along the coast of the Liguria region, in inland localities in the Apuan Alps (Tuscany) and on the Pontine Islands (Lazio). A localized presence has also been reported further east in Emilia-Romagna and Marche, the Republic of San Marino, as well as further south in Campania, Basilicata and Calabria regions (
This paper examines previous reports of B. montana for the most eastern part of its native range. This is intended as a contribution towards a complete inventory of all the Italian populations of B. montana. The most accurate and thorough study about the native range of B. montana (
Available sources of information indicating the distribution of B. montana in Emilia-Romagna, Marche and San Marino were analysed, based on existing bibliography, online resources such as the anArchive System (http://www.anarchive.it/anArchive), herbarium specimens and personal field observations. Herbarium material was directly consulted at FI, RO, and VER. Information from other herbaria (AQUI, BOLO, CAME, G, GE, MOD, NAP, PAV, SIENA, and TO) (herbarium acronyms follow
Our survey of available resources identified seven localities where the presence of B. montana has been reported: four in Emilia-Romagna, two in the Marche and one in the Republic of San Marino. Information collected for each of these localities is described below.
1. Lago Naro: the presence of B. montana has been recorded in the flora of the Modena province (
2. Riva di Dardagna: this locality was mentioned in a note by
The card index of the Zangheri’s herbarium, deposited at VER, reports two specimens under B. oleracea subsp. silvestris L. (Mill.), found at the following two localities:
3. Balze: this place, currently called Balze di Verghereto (or Le Balze), is located at 1090 m a.s.l., on the border between Romagna and Tuscany. The herbarium specimen (collection number 4623) was collected by Zangheri in a rocky habitat (rupi) on 26 July 1923. The tag shows (Figure
4. Campigna: locality above 1000 m a.s.l., in the Bidente Valley, within the National Park of Casentino Forests, Monte Falterona and Campigna, at the border between Romagna and Tuscany. This specimen was collected by Zangheri in a rocky habitat (rupi) on 1 July 1924 (collection number 4622). The sample no longer exists and a note in the card index written by Zangheri himself (Salmaso, pers. comm. 2017) indicates that it was eliminated (Figure
5. Monte Titano: Two samples collected at Monte Titano by Pampanini (sub “B. oleracea var. silvestris L. Mill.”) in June 1912 (“San Marino, sulle rupi calcaree” [on the calcareous rocks]) and in May 1929 (“M. Titano, vers. or.” [eastern slope]) are conserved respectively at FI and VER (Figure
When
6. Monte Conero: B. montana is common in the Conero Regional Nature Park, where it is mainly included, according to
7. Ancona: The presence of a population in Ancona was mentioned by
Regarding the presence of B. montana in the Marche, it should be noted that
The presence of B. montana in Emilia-Romagna has not been confirmed by our research. The only recent observation of B. montana in this region refers to the Modena province (Lago Naro) and dates back to 2005. However, the species is no longer present here. Previous observations in other localities in the region were made between 1885 and 1923. It should also be noted that the only herbarium specimens we traced from Emilia-Romagna were collected at Le Balze in 1923 (Zangheri, VER) and at Riva di Dardagna in 1886–1888 (Cavara et Farneti, G and PAV), in both cases of uncertain identification. The illustrations and descriptions from
The eastern populations were known at least since 1856 in the case of Monte Conero (Narducci, FI), 1876 (Ancona) (Ricci, FI), and 1912 (San Marino) (Pampanini, FI). They have been repeatedly confirmed until now. It is noteworthy that from time to time various authors (
On the other hand, if we assume that all the populations observed in the Northern Apennines truly belong to B. montana, an interesting pattern is drawn (Figure
An alternative explanation for the fragmentary distribution of B. montana at its eastern edge is a long-distance dissemination from the Apuan Alps populations. In this case, only few individuals might have occasionally overstepped the Apennine ridge to Emilia-Romagna, finding a favourable habitat only along the Adriatic coast.
The current presence of B. montana in Emilia-Romagna cannot be confirmed, while populations of B. montana are thriving well in the province of Ancona and the Republic of San Marino. The full distribution range of B. montana in Italy needs to be further investigated, possibly following a careful identification, based on both morphological traits and molecular means.
The authors wish to acknowledge precious help and availability of Annalisa Managlia (BOLO), Chiara Nepi and Lorenzo Cecchi (FI), Laurence Loze and Laurent Gautier (G), Annalisa Santangelo (NAP), Nicola Ardenghi (PAV), Maurizio Pierfranceschi (RO), Francesco Di Carlo (VER), and Claudia Bonfiglioli (Biblioteca Erbario e Orto Botanico, Università di Bologna). We thank Elinor Lipman and Olga Spellman (Bioversity International) for English and copy editing. Finally, we thank two anonymous reviewers for critically reviewing the manuscript and suggesting substantial improvements.