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AbstractThe ecological amplitude and the biological variability of the Holm oak are such that any systematic characterization is hazardous. This study, conducted from eleven origins representative of the Western Mediterranean area, is novel by its pluridisciplinary and statistical approach. Chemical (foliar flavonoids) and morphometric data (dry weight, lengthening, veins of the leaves) support the same conclusion that the “variability” of the Holm oak is structured by Ford sensupolymorphism.The distinction between ilexand rotundifoliaremains pertinent from a first order perspective, but the second taxon should also be sub-divided into two distinct entities, the first in the Iberian peninsula, the other in North Africa. We consider the Holm oak as a specific complex comprising three taxa: ilexL.; rotundifoliaemend, and maghrebianasubsp. nov. Although the Pyrenees constituted a barrier between ilexand rotundifolia, hybridisations and mutual introgressions doubtless explain certain abnormalities in Catalonia and Languedoc. A primarily morphometric determination key is proposed, though to be entirely rigorous only a population-based and multivariate-based approach, with inclusion of the biochemical parameters, can hope to address with sufficiently subtlety a problem of this complexity.

SummaryIsolated peripheral populations of species are worthy to study in an evolutionary context. Their taxonomic status is often controversial. Cyclamen repandumSibth. & Sm. occupies a wide range from Var (southern France) to Rhodes throughout Mediterranean Europe, but it also occurs, very locally, in Africa (Petite Kabylie region in Algeria) with a few populations whose conservation is at risk. Ambiguous until now the taxonomic status of these populations was precised thanks to statistical analysis of foliar and floral morphology of a few cultivated individuals and herbarium exsiccata. We defined and described this taxon as a distinctive variety corresponding to var. baborenseDebussche & Quézel. Distribution and ecology of this taxon were described; its biogeographi- cal significance and its conservation were discussed.