Taxonomic position and circumscription of Cardamine barbaraeoides (Brassicaceae), a systematically challenging taxon from the Balkan Peninsula
Abstract
The Balkan Peninsula, and the territory of Greece in particular, is a significant biodiversity hotspot in the Mediterranean that is rich in endemic plants. The focal species of this study, Cardamine barbaraeoides, is a narrow Greek endemic that has been confused taxonomically since its original description.
Based on a detailed multivariate morphometric study, we provide here a set of morphological characters that enables the reliable identification of this species. In addition, we present an identification key to C. barbaraeoides and related taxa.
We have revised herbarium specimens and literature data on the occurrence of this species in Greece and ascertained that it occurs only in the Pindos mountains (the Southern Pindos and partly the Northern Pindos floristic regions). All reports of this species from the Greek floristic regions of North Central, Sterea Ellas and partly also Northern Pindos were based on misidentifications of specimens of C. acris.