Sesleria pichiana Foggi, Rossi & Pignotti (2007: 1–10

Pietro, Romeo Di, Kuzmanović, Nevena, Lakušić, Dmitar, Viciani, Daniele, Fortini, Paola & Iamonico, Duilio, 2021, Nomenclatural and taxonomic notes on some names of Sesleria sect. Argenteae (Poaceae) from Italy and the Balkans, Phytotaxa 494 (1), pp. 89-102 : 96

2. Sesleria pichiana Foggi, Rossi & Pignotti (2007: 1–10 , Fig. 1 )

Type:— ITALY, Emilia-Romagna, Mt. Prinzera (appennino Parmense), su detrici ofiolitici, a lato della strada, 529 m, 04 June 1995, Rossi & Gentilini s.n. (holotype, PAV!) .

= Sesleria nitida Ten. var. tenoreana f. de-gasperiana Pampanini (1917: 4).

Type:— REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO. Mt. Titano , 20 April 2019, Di Pietro et Fortini s.n. (neotype, designated here, HFLA4885 !, Fig. 3) .

Notes on Sesleria nitida var. tenoreana f. de-gasperiana:— This form was described by Pampanini through a detailed diagnosis ( Pampanini 1917) and compared with Sesleria nitida var. hercegovina Beck (1890: 559) from which it was distinguished by having leaves with non-acute apex ( Pampanini 1927: 332). Pampanini’s name is untypified [ Foggi et al. (2007: 4) stated: “Typus non vidi” [sic] without providing any further comment]. Unfortunately, no original material was found, so that a neotypification is necessary (Art. 9.8 of the ICN). Accordingly, we here designate as neotype a specimen collected by two of us on Mount Titano (the original locality of collection of var. de-gasperiana) and now deposited at the HFLA (barcode 4885) ( Fig. 3).

Foggi et al. (2007) and Bartolucci et al. (2018) reported Sesleria nitida var. de-gasperiana as a heterotypic synonym of S. pichiana , a species that includes all the polyploid (octoploid) populations of S. gr. insularis occurring in Italy ( Rossi & Ubaldi 1995, Trombetta et al. 2005, Foggi et al. 2007). However, Ujhelyi (1940: 69) had already stated that S. nitida var. de-gasperiana was identical with S. insularis Sommier (1905: 126) (”Les plante detérminées par Pampanini comme Sesleria nitida Ten. [...] var. De. gasperiana sont identiques à la S. Insularis Somm ....”). Subsequently, Ujhelyi (1959: 608) confirmed that var. de-gasperiana had to be considered a synonym of S. insularis . [The typification of S. insularis was discussed in detail by Alonso et al. (2016: 197–198) who concluded that Ujhelyi (1959: 608) inadvertently proposed a second-step typification of Sommier’s S. insularis (first-step typification by Ujhelyi 1939) based on a specimen deposited at FI (barcode FI007267, image available at http://parlatore.msn.unifi. it/img_450/FI007267.jpg) and collected in northern Sardinia (”Provincia di Sassari, Golfo Aranci, La Rocca Rubia, 1903, leg. R. Gestro ”)]. Ujhelyi (1959) was not aware that the populations of the S. insularis group of the Italian Peninsula s.s. were octoploid and which would subsequently have been ascribed to a species other than S. insularis . We here propose the synonymization of S. nitida var. de-gasperiana with S. pichiana .

= Sesleria nitida Ten. var. sancti-marinii Pampanini (1917: 4).

Type:— REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO. Monte Titano , vers. occ., 04 May 1912, Pampanini 666 (lectotype, designated by Foggi et al. 2007: 4, FI007072!, image of the lectotype availableat http://parlatore.msn.unifi.it/types/search.php) .

Notes on Sesleria nitida var. sancti-marinii:— Pampanini (1917) published this variety with a short diagnosis (”Culmis debiles, leves; panicula ovato-cylindrica, circ. 2 cm. longa et 1 cm. lata, laxiuscula; folia duplicata, angusta, 2–3 mm. lata”). Subsequently, Pampanini (1927: 331–332) discussed the reasons that led him to classify this variety under Sesleria nitida , rather than under S. cylindrica ( Balbis 1801: 86) Candolle in Lamarck & Candolle (1806: 134). The name S. cylindrica is currently considered an heterotypic synonym of S. argentea ( Savi 1800: 48) Savi (1808: 68) . The morphological characters of both the leaves (conduplicate) and the spike (lax and partially interrupted) of the var. sancti-marini led us to consider it as a synonym of S. pichiana . In fact, the lectotype of the Pampanini’s variety sancti-marini was designated by Foggi et al. (2007) on a specimen deposited at FI (barcode FI007072) where the authors included this variety in the phenotypic variability of S. pichiana . Ujhelyi (1940: 69) stated that this variety was identical to S. insularis : “Les plante detérminées par Pampanini comme Sesleria nitida Ten. var. Sancti Marini ... sont identiques à la S. insularis Somm. ...”. For this variety what has already been said for var. de-gasperiana applies, i.e. all the populations of S. gr. insularis which occur in the peninsular part of Italy are to be classified as S. pichiana .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Neotype of Sesleria nitida var. tenoreana f. tenoreana (HFLA4884!).