Refining the inventory of the vascular flora of Italy: Unconfirmed, doubtful, excluded or extinct taxa

The study of a country’s flora is an open-ended work influenced by environmental changes, advances in taxonomical research, and the development of new data collection methods. In Italy, floristic research has evolved from early botanical records to digital databases allowing real-time updates. This study, conducted within the Italian Botanical Society, aimed at verifying, updating and expanding knowledge on species with uncertain, extinct, or excluded status. Starting in 2021, researchers from all regions of Italy collaborated to review literature, herbarium specimens, and field data. Their efforts culminated in 839 regional-level assessments of 628 taxa, leading to 276 changes in regional status and 25 at the national level. These updates are of great significance for nature conservation efforts by confirming species presence in some regions while verifying extinctions, particularly in fragile aquatic habitats. This research also underscores the importance of botanical collections and historical records to reconstruct the history, dynamics, and current distribution of plant species, and addresses challenges such as limited access to the collections. This study is not only a milestone in Italian floristics but also provides a replicable methodology for updating national floras globally.

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Publication Details

Journal
Phytotaxa
Published
2025-10-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.723.1.1
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Mediterranean and Iberian flora and fauna
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
7.00
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article

Refining the inventory of the vascular flora of Italy: Unconfirmed, doubtful, excluded or extinct taxa

Emilio Di Gristina, Nicodemo G. Passalacqua, Giuseppe Fenu, Malvina Urbani et al.
4 citations
Phytotaxa
Mediterranean and Iberian flora and fauna
7.00
article

Refining the inventory of the vascular flora of Italy: Unconfirmed, doubtful, excluded or extinct taxa

Emilio Di Gristina, Nicodemo G. Passalacqua, Giuseppe Fenu, Malvina Urbani, Mauro Fois, Gabriele Galasso, Andrea Lallai, Davide Dagnino, Giulio Barone, Pietro Medagli, Giovanni Astuti, Thomas Willhalm, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Stefano Marsili, Gabriele Casazza, D. Marchetti, Leonardo Rosati, Nicole Hofmann, M. Bovio, Giulio Ferretti, Michele Mugnai, Mariacristina Villani, Domenico Gargano, Gianmaria Bonari, Piera Di Marzio, Sandro Ballelli, Marco Giardini, Maria Carmela Caria, Fabio Conti, Lorenzo Cecchi, Antonio Croce, Francesco Roma‐Marzio, Alberto Selvaggi, Simone Orsenigo, Fabio Mondello, Leonardo Gubellini, Donatella Cogoni, Federico Selvi, Giancarlo Tondi, Giacomo Calvia, Daniela Bouvet, E Zappa, Chiara Montagnani, Carlo Argenti, Giuseppina Barberis, Simonetta Bagella, Cristian Brullo, Emanuele Fanfarillo, Carmelo María Musarella, Saverio Sciandrello, Lorenzo Pinzani, Rosa Maria Picone, Elisabetta Bianchi, A. Tilia, Federico Maria Tardella, Claudia Ganz, Claudia Angiolini, Riccardo Pennesi, Mauro Iberite, Giovanni Spampinato, Gianpietro Giusso del Galdo, Salvatore Brullo, Antonio Giacò, Lina Podda, Jacopo Franzoni, Enrico Banfi, Rosario Galesi, Daniela Longo, Tiberio Fiaschi, Ian Briozzo, M. Manca, Filippo Prosser, Giuseppe Tognon, Alessio Bertolli, Annalisa Santangelo, Giovanni Rivieccio, Fabrizio Martini, Adriano Stinca, Carlo Cibei, Gianniantonio Domina, Fernando Lucchese, Duilio Iamonico, Giovanni Salerno, Lorenzo Lastrucci, Simonetta Fascetti, Paola Fortini, Riccardo Guarino, Giovanni Maiorca, Emmanuele Farris, Lorenzo Lazzaro, Thomas Abeli, Alessandro Crisafulli, Simonetta Peccenini, Fabrizio Bartolucci, Gianluca Nicolella, Alessandro Alessandrini, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Lorenzo Gianguzzi, P. Lavezzo, Gianmarco Tavilla, Paolo Caputo, Francesco Mascia, Liliana Bernardo, Valentina Lucia Astrid Laface, Giuseppe Caruso, U Ferrando
article en
4 citations

Abstract

The study of a country’s flora is an open-ended work influenced by environmental changes, advances in taxonomical research, and the development of new data collection methods. In Italy, floristic research has evolved from early botanical records to digital databases allowing real-time updates. This study, conducted within the Italian Botanical Society, aimed at verifying, updating and expanding knowledge on species with uncertain, extinct, or excluded status. Starting in 2021, researchers from all regions of Italy collaborated to review literature, herbarium specimens, and field data. Their efforts culminated in 839 regional-level assessments of 628 taxa, leading to 276 changes in regional status and 25 at the national level. These updates are of great significance for nature conservation efforts by confirming species presence in some regions while verifying extinctions, particularly in fragile aquatic habitats. This research also underscores the importance of botanical collections and historical records to reconstruct the history, dynamics, and current distribution of plant species, and addresses challenges such as limited access to the collections. This study is not only a milestone in Italian floristics but also provides a replicable methodology for updating national floras globally.

PhytotaxaVol. 723(1)
University of Siena (IT), University of Pisa (IT), Università di Camerino (IT), University of Messina (IT), Roma Tre University (IT), Marche Polytechnic University (IT), University of Molise (IT), University of Padua (IT), University of Trieste (IT), University of Salento (IT), Eni (Italy) (IT), University of Sassari (IT), Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (IT), University of Cagliari (IT), University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (IT), University of Basilicata (IT), University of Pavia (IT), Fondazione Roma (IT), University of Catania (IT), Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo (IT), Centro Ricerche FIAT (IT), Associazione Istituzione Libera Università Nuorese (IT), Ente Regionale per i Servizi all'Agricoltura e alle Foreste (IT), Ospedale di Rivoli (IT), Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri (IT), Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale Della Romagna (IT), Consorzio Milano Ricerche (IT), Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems (IT), Torino e-district (IT), University of Aosta Valley (IT), Ospedaliera di Piacenza (IT), Fondazione Vincenzo Pansadoro (IT), Angelini Pharma (Italy) (IT), Oldham Council (GB), University of Florence (IT), University of Calabria (IT), University of Turin (IT), University of Reggio Calabria (IT), University of Milano-Bicocca (IT), University of Naples Federico II (IT), University of Genoa (IT), Sapienza University of Rome (IT), University of Palermo (IT)
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Mediterranean and Iberian flora and fauna
7.00
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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