Pulmonaria vallarsae A.Kern. subsp. apennina (Cristof. & Puppi) Cecchi & Selvi (Boraginaceae)

Astuti, Giovanni, Liu, Lijuan & Peruzzi, Lorenzo, 2019, Chromosome numbers for the Italian flora: 7, Italian Botanist 7, pp. 183-187 : 183

Pulmonaria vallarsae A.Kern. subsp. apennina (Cristof. & Puppi) Cecchi & Selvi (Boraginaceae)

Chromosome number.

2n = 22 (Figs 1, 2)

Voucher specimen.

ITALY. Emilia-Romagna. Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna), Parco Talon (WGS84: 44.47278N, 10.28416E), 76 m s.l.m., 23 March 2018, G. Astuti et L. Liu (PI n° 021283-021302); Calabria. San Fili (Cosenza), Foresta Luta (WGS84: 39.34085N, 16.08722E), margine di bosco a Fagus sylvatica ( più in basso a Tilia platyphyllos e Acer platanoides ), 1030 m s.l.m., 5 April 2018, G. Astuti, L. Liu, F. Roma-Marzio (PI n° 021323-021342).

Chromosome number.

2n = 26 (Fig. 3)

Voucher specimen.

ITALY. Abruzzo. Rocca di Mezzo ( L’Aquila), in Via dei Prati Santi (WGS84: 42.2125N, 13.51305E), lungo il fossato insieme a Salix apennina , 1289 m s.l.m., 10 April 2018, G. Astuti, L. Liu, F. Bartolucci (PI n° 021303-021322).

Method.

Squash preparations were made on root-tips obtained from potted plants. Root tips were pre-treated with 0.4% colchicine for 3 hours and then fixed in Carnoy fixative solution for 1 hour. After hydrolysis in HCl 1N at 60 °C, the tips were stained in leuco-basic fuchsine.

Observations.

Puppi and Cristofolini (1996) collected the holotype of the name P. apennina from Parco Talon (Emilia-Romagna). All the 18 plants sampled from this population show the typical chromosome number of P. apennina , i.e. 2n = 22, without any variation. Also the chromosome number found in 18 individuals from Foresta Luta (Calabria) is 2n = 22, and it agrees with a single previous count ( Peruzzi and Cesca 2003) available from that area. On the contrary, all the 17 individuals sampled from Rocca di Mezzo (Abruzzo) show 2n = 26 chromosomes. The identification of these plants was based on morphological features, revised by L. Cecchi on herbarium sheets preserved at APP (F. Bartolucci in verbis). Previously, chromosome numbers (2n = 25, 26) intermediate between 2n = 22, typical of P. apennina , and 2n = 28, typical of P. hirta ( Cecchi and Selvi 2015), were reported from populations in northern and central Apennines ( Puppi and Cristofolini 1996, Vosa and Pistolesi 2004). However, this is the first case in which an intermediate chromosome number is constantly observed within a single population.

G. Astuti, L. Liu, L. Peruzzi