ISRN Botany
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 127250, 7 pages
doi:10.5402/2012/127250
A Comparative Study of Two Endemic Isoëtes Species from South Italy
Laboratory of Systematic Botany and Plant Ecology, Di.S.Te.B.A., University of the Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Received 9 August 2012; Accepted 2 October 2012
Academic Editors: M. Adrian, S. Rachmilevitch, S. Satoh, and N. Uehlein
Copyright © 2012 Paola Ernandes and Silvano Marchiori. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Two Isoëtes taxa (Isoëtaceae, Pteridophyta) have recently been described in Puglia and Sicily (south Italy). Though morphologically similar (Ernandes, 2011), they differ in diagnostic characters and habitat preferences. In this paper, we highlight the differences and similarities between Isoëtes iapygia Ernandes, Beccarisi et Zuccarello (Ernandes et al., 2010) and Isoëtes todaroana Troia et Raimondo (Troia and Raimondo, 2009). Individuals are described in terms of selected diagnostic characters. Morphometric differences and other distinguishing characteristics suggest that I. iapygia and I. todaroana should be considered as separate species.