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Campanula L. is among the genera with the highest number of endemics in the Caucasus ecoregion. A group of attractive alpine and subalpine perennial rosette plants with short single-flowered stems centred in the Caucasus has been treated as Campanula subg. Scapiflorae or at other ranks, with considerably varying circumscription and classification. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of three plastid DNA regions (trnK/matK, petD, rpl16) of a strongly extended sampling, comprising 23 of the 27 commonly accepted taxa (85%) with 330 accessions built on and guided by the results of our previous study of the group, confirmed the polyphyly of C. subg. Scapiflorae in any of its circumscriptions. The core clade of the group comprises exclusively endemics and near-endemics of the Caucasus and is treated here as C. sect. Tridentatae in a revised circumscription. The phylogenetic relationships of the disparate other elements of the Scapiflorae group are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our first record of the rare and scatteredly distributed Ixeridium sagittarioides for Guizhou, China, triggered a study to assess its systematic position. The species was placed in four different genera in the course of its taxonomic history and was recently treated with doubts as a member of Ixeridium in the Flora of China. Comparative morphological investigation and phylogenetic analyses based on the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) and five non-coding plastid DNA regions (petD region, psbA-trnH, trnL-trnF, rpl32-trnL(UAG) and 5´rps16-trnQ(UUG) spacers) provided evidence that the species is not a member of Ixeridium and the Crepidinae but has evolved by ancient hybridisation of members of the Lactuca alliance (Lactucinae). It is reinstated as Lactuca sagittarioides and a comprehensive morphological description is provided, based on material from its entire range of distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subtribe Scorzonerinae (Cichorieae, Asteraceae) contains 12 main lineages and approximately 300 species. Relationships within the subtribe, either at inter- or intrageneric levels, were largely unresolved in phylogenetic studies to date, due to the lack of phylogenetic signal provided by traditional Sanger sequencing markers. In this study, we employed a phylogenomics approach (Hyb-Seq) that targets 1,061 nuclearconserved ortholog loci designed for Asteraceae and obtained chloroplast coding regions as a by-product of off-target reads. Our objectives were to evaluate the potential of the Hyb-Seq approach in resolving the phylogenetic relationships across the subtribe at deep and shallow nodes, investigate the relationships of major lineages at inter- and intrageneric levels, and examine the impact of the different datasets and approaches on the robustness of phylogenetic inferences. We analyzed three nuclear datasets: exon only, excluding all potentially paralogous loci; exon only, including loci that were only potentially paralogous in 1–3 samples; exon plus intron regions (supercontigs); and the plastome CDS region. Phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed using both multispecies coalescent and concatenation (Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses) approaches. Overall, our phylogenetic reconstructions recovered the same monophyletic major lineages found in previous studies and were successful in fully resolving the backbone phylogeny of the subtribe, while the internal resolution of the lineages was comparatively poor. The backbone topologies were largely congruent among all inferences, but some incongruent relationships were recovered between nuclear and plastome datasets, which are discussed and assumed to represent cases of cytonuclear discordance. Considering the newly resolved phylogenies, a new infrageneric classification of Scorzonera in its revised circumscription is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies to elucidate the systematic position of two Chinese species described originally as Lactuca hirsuta and L. scandens, of which only historical specimens from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were known, revealed the occurrence of three different species. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of these species based on sequences of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) region and three plastid DNA markers (trnL-F, psbA-trnH, matK) uncovered a hitherto unknown lineage in a first comprehensive phylogenetic backbone of the subtribe Crepidinae (Asteraceae, tribe Cichorieae). Substantiated by comparative morphological studies, this lineage is described as a new genus, named Sinoseris, endemic to the Chinese provinces Sichuan and Yunnan. One of its three species is new to science, while another is conspecific with both L. hirsuta and L. scandens. The third was meanwhile described by other authors as Nabalus muliensis and is now transferred to Sinoseris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies to elucidate the systematic position of two Chinese species described originally as Lactuca hirsuta and L. scandens, of which only historical specimens from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were known, revealed the occurrence of three different species. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of these species based on sequences of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) region and three plastid DNA markers (trnL-F, psbA-trnH, matK) uncovered a hitherto unknown lineage in a first comprehensive phylogenetic backbone of the subtribe Crepidinae (Asteraceae, tribe Cichorieae). Substantiated by comparative morphological studies, this lineage is described as a new genus, named Sinoseris, endemic to the Chinese provinces Sichuan and Yunnan. One of its three species is new to science, while another is conspecific with both L. hirsuta and L. scandens. The third was meanwhile described by other authors as Nabalus muliensis and is now transferred to Sinoseris. Citation: Wang Z.-H., Kilian N., Chen Y.-P. & Peng H. 2020: Sinoseris (Crepidinae, Cichorieae, Asteraceae), a new genus of three species endemic to China, one of them new to science. – Willdenowia 50: 91–110. Version of record first published online on 12 March 2020 ahead of inclusion in April 2020 issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Socotra archipelago off the Horn of Africa shelters morphologically diverse endemic species of Asteraceae tribe Gnaphalieae, eight species placed in Helichrysum and five newly discovered. We reconstructed their phylogenetic relationships, analysing nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) internal transcribed spacer and external transcribed spacer, three plastid DNA and two low-copy nuclear DNA loci with Bayesian inference and maximum parsimony. The plastid DNA and nrDNA trees resolve the endemic helichrysoids as a monophyletic group and agree in that they are not members of Helichrysum or even part of the Helichrysum-Anaphalis-Pseudognaphalium clade, but disagree as to their sister group. In the nrDNA tree, they are nested in the Filago-Leontopodium-Antennaria-Gamochaeta (FLAG) clade, whereas in the plastid DNA tree they are sister to Syncarpha mucronata. The endemic helichrysoids possess two divergent copies of each of the nDNA low-copy markers, similar to those previously found for the FLAG clade. This suggests an ancient allopolyploid origin, with the putative ancestors among the ancestors of Gnaphalium or relatives and of S. mucronata or relatives. The reconstruction of ancestral states of morphological characters suggested hypotheses on the origin and evolution of the morphological diversity of the endemic helichrysoids. We conclude a taxonomic treatment with a key to, and descriptions for, the 13 species accommodated in a new genus, Libinhania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is shown that the concept of the Iranian endemic Lactuca polyclada in the sense of both its original author Boissier and its current use actually admixes two entirely different species, as was first noted by Beauverd a hundred years ago but has been neglected by later workers. One is a putative relative of L. rosularis, the other was recognised by Beauverd as a member of the genus Cicerbita. The name L. polyclada Boiss. is lectotypified here, maintaining its use as established by Beauverd for the Cicerbita species. Both species are morphologically delimited and mature achenes of Cicerbita polyclada are illustrated for the first time. The putative relative of Lactuca rosularis, a rare local endemic of the summit area of Kuh e-Dena, which has remained without a valid name by now, is described as a new species, Lactuca denaensis N. Kilian & Djavadi, and illustrated. A third member of the Lactuca rosularis group, L. hazaranensis Djavadi & N. Kilian, discovered among a recent collection and apparently being a rare chasmophyte of the Hazaran mountain massif in the province of Kerman, Iran, is described as a species new to science, illustrated and delimited from the other two species. This new species has peculiar achenes representing a hitherto unknown variant: the body of the beaked achenes is divided into two segments by a transversal constriction in the distal third. The proximal segment contains the embryo, the distal segment is solid with a lipid-containing yellow tissue. The easily detachable pappus and the equally easily detachable beak potentially obstruct dispersal by wind. Since detachment of the beak also exposes the lipid-containing tissue of the distal segment, its potential as an elaiosome and myrmecochory as a possible mode of dispersal are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specimens form the falsifiable evidence used in plant systematics. Derivatives of specimens (including the specimen as the organism in the field) such as tissue and DNA samples play an increasing role in research. The EDIT Platform for Cybertaxonomy is a specialist's tool that allows to document and sustainably store all data that are used in the taxonomic work process, from field data to DNA sequences. The types of data stored can be very heterogeneous consisting of specimens, images, text data, primary data files, taxon assignments, etc. The EDIT Platform organizes the linking between such data by using a generic data model for representing the research process. Each step in the process is regarded as a derivation step and generates a derivative of the previous step. This could be a field unit having a specimen as its derivative or a specimen having a tissue sample as its derivative. Each derivation step also produces meta data storing who, when and how the derivation was done. The Platform's Common Data Model (CDM) and the applications build on the CDM library thus represent the first comprehensive implementation of the largely theoretical models developed in the late 1990ies (Berendsohn et al. 1999). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herbarium specimens have always played a central role in the classical disciplines of plant sciences and the global digitisation efforts now open new horizons. To make full use of the inherent possibilities of specimen based taxonomic descriptions corresponding workflows are needed. A crucial step in the comparative analyses of organisms is the preparation of a character matrix to record and compare the morphological variation of taxa on the basis of individual specimens. This project focuses on the optimisation of the taxonomic research process with respect to delimitation and characterisation ("descriptions") of taxa (Henning et al. 2018). The angiosperm order Caryophyllales provides exemplar use cases through cooperation with the Global Caryophyllales Initiative (Borsch et al. 2015). The workflow for sample data handling (Kilian et al. 2015), implemented on the EDIT Platform for Cybertaxonomy (http:// www.cybertaxonomy.org, Ciardelli et al. 2009), has been extended to support additive characterisation of taxa via specimen character data. The Common Data Model (CDM), already supporting persistent inter-linking of specimens and their metadata (Plitzner et al. 2017), has been adapted to facilitate specimen descriptions with characters constructed from the combination of structure and property terms and their corresponding states. Semantic web technology is used to establish and continuously elaborate expert community-coordinated exemplar vocabularies with term ontologies and explanations for characters and states (GFBio Terminology Service, Karam et al. 2016). Character data are recorded and stored in structured form in character state matrices for individual specimens instead of taxa, which allows generation of taxon characterisations by aggregating the data sets for the individual specimens included. Separating characters in structures and properties, which are based on concepts in public ontologies, guarantees a high visibility and instant re-usability of these character data. Taking into account that taxon concepts evolve during the iterative knowledge generation process in systematic biology, additivity of character data from specimen to taxon level therefore greatly facilitates the construction and reproducibility of taxon characterisations from changing specimen and character data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Platform for Cybertaxonomy (http://www.cybertaxonomy.org) is a standards-based open-source software framework covering the breadth of the taxonomic workflow, from fieldwork to publication (Ciardelli et al. 2009). It provides coupled tools for full, customized access to taxonomic data, editing and management, and collaborative team work. At the core of the platform is the Common Data Model (CDM, Müller et al. 2017), offering a comprehensive information model covering all relevant data domains: names and classifications, descriptive data (morphological and molecular), media, geographic information, literature, specimens, types, persons, and external resources. Platform compliant software interacts via services and includes the following components: #8226; CDM Server #8226; Taxonomic Editor Rich Client #8226; Web-based editors #8226; Drupal-based and highly configurable portal software #8226; Map services and map viewer #8226; Xper2 descriptive data editor #8226; Specimen search tool #8226; Import and export modules Recent platform-based developments include software components for deriving formal species-level descriptions from measurements on individual specimens (Henning et al. 2018) as well as a registration system for nomenclatural acts of algae (Phycobank, https:// www.phycobank.org/). Currently, about 30 portals with regional and taxonomic foci are using the Platform for Cybertaxonomy as their technical basis for capturing, managing, and publishing biodiversity data over the World Wide Web. Prominent examples are the Euro +Med Plantbase, the International Caryophyllales Network, and the Flora of Greece [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]