Acta Botanica 2-2016 - za web.indd 210 ACTA BOT. CROAT. 75 (2), 2016 Acta Bot. Croat. 75 (2), 210–212, 2016 CODEN: ABCRA 25 DOI: 10.1515/botcro-2016-0024 ISSN 0365-0588 eISSN 1847-8476 Short communication Myosotis refracta Boiss. (Boraginaceae), an unexpected forget-me-not in the Slovene fl ora Simona Strgulc Krajšek1*, Marko Accetto2, Nejc Jogan1 1 University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, Večna pot 111, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 2 Trnovski pristan 18, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Abstract – Myosotis refracta Boiss. is reported as a new and unexpected fi nding for the Slovene fl ora. The species was found in three collections stored in the Herbarium LJU from south-east Slovenia, in the Kolpa river valley bordering Croatia. All plants thrived under overhanging dolomite rocks. On account of an earlier misidentifi cation, the respective plant community had been described as the association Arabido alpinae- Myosotidetum strictae Accetto 2008, which is here corrected to Arabido alpinae-Myosotidetum refractae Ac- cetto 2008 corr. Strgulc Krajšek, Accetto & Jogan 2016. Myosotis refracta has a disjunct Mediterranean- southwest Asian distribution. The reported new localities extend its known range more than 500 km in north-west direction, from its nearest known occurrences on the southern Balkan peninsula. Key words – fl ora, forget-me-not, Kolpa valley, Myosotis refracta, phytocenology, Slovenia * Corresponding author, e-mail: simona.strgulc@bf.uni-lj.si Introduction Myosotis L., forget-me-not (Boraginaceae) has about 41 species reported from Europe (Grau and Merxmüler 1972). The genus is considered taxonomically diffi cult, due to the many morphologically similar species that are for practical reasons grouped in several aggregates, such as M. alpestris agg., M. sylvatica agg., and M. scorpioides agg. (Greuter et al. 1984). Eleven species of Myosotis were re- corded from Slovenia (Strgulc Krajšek 2007, Király et al. 2007) before the revision of herbarium material in Herbari- um LJU in 2015, carried out by Strgulc Krajšek. During the revision, an unexpected species, M. refracta Boiss., was identifi ed. M. refracta is morphologically distinct, but easily con- fused with other small Myosotis species. The plants are an- nual, branching from base, with few-leaved, delicate, stiff branches terminating in long, many-fl owered partial infl o- rescences. The leaves are lanceolate, to 4 cm long. The fl owers are small, corolla to 1.5 mm in diameter and pale blue. The calyx is densely covered with patent hooked hairs. Hooked hairs on the base of calyx are strongly de- fl exed towards the very short pedicel. During ripening, the calyces elongate to ca 4 mm and their pedicels become de- fl exed, giving the plant a very characteristic appearance in that state. The nutlets are narrow, almost spindle-shaped (Grau and Merxmüler 1972). Phylogenetically (based on ITS), M. refracta has a basal position relative to a clade containing most of the Eurasian Myosotis species (Wink- worth et al. 2002), but poor resolution and plastid marker incongruencies would need more sampling. The known distribution of M. refracta is apparently linked to the southern edge of the Eurasian mountains formed during the Tertiary Alpine orogeny of the Tethyan (palaeo-Mediterranian) region, stretching from Spain to NW India. It has an interesting distribution range from the Iberian peninsula in the West to the western outskirts of Hi- malaya in the East with at least two disjunctions separated by 1000 or more km and possibly another disjunction in the eastern part of the range, but the data quality for Western Asia is less reliable so it could have been expected also in the mountain ranges around the Black and the Caspian Sea. In the Western Mediterranean its records are limited to the south of Spain. The Eastern Mediterranean disjunction ranges from Albania and Greece to Syria, and the Eastern disjunction spans the area from Pakistan to Himalaya (Chowdhery and Wadhwa 1984). In Spain it is reported for Sierra Nevada where its locus classicus is (Boissier 1841). In the former USSR it is reported only for Eastern Crimea (Fedorov 1981), from Albania several localities were re- ported just recently (Barina et al. 2009) on limestone areas, with only one older record known from the vicinity of Bor- sh. In Macedonia Bornmüller 1928 reports it only for Dre- novo, but recently Matevski 2010 added several localities scattered in the mountains. In Greece several localities are reported from various mountain ranges (Strid 1991) and Crete (Jahn and Schönfelder 1995). Meikle 1985 reports it MYOSOTIS REFRACTA IN SLOVENIA ACTA BOT. CROAT. 75 (2), 2016 211 from 3 localities in the mountains of western Cyprus. Heller & Heyn 1986 reported M. refracta for Cyprus, a major part of Asian Turkey (similarly also Grau 1978), Le- banon, Syria and Israel (especially mountains near Mediter- ranean coast), NE Iraq and W Iran. To date, four subspecies of M. refracta were described (Grau and Merxmüler 1972, Greuter et al. 1984, Kazmi 1971): – M. refracta subsp. refracta: 2n = 44, distribution range: Spain, E Mediterranean region and Krym. – M. refracta subsp. paucipilosa Grau: 2n = 20, distribu- tion range: S Greece, Kriti. Turkey. This subspecies has been recognised as a separate species due to karyo- logical, morphological and distributional differences: Myosotis paucipilosa (Grau) Ristow & Hand (Hand 2015). – M. refracta subsp. aegagrophylla Greuter & Grau: chromosome number unknown, distribution range: Kriti (Greuter and Grau 1970). This taxon is not gen- erally accepted and has been synonymized with nom- inal subspecies (Hand 2015). – M. refracta subsp. chitralica Kazmi: W and C Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, NW India, Turki - stan, Pamir Alaj, Tien Shan.) (Kazmi 1971, Nasir 2015). According to Hand 2015, this taxon may need critical reconsideration, but see Dickoré 2016. The differences between subspecies are in the shape of leaves, distribution of hooked hairs on calyx, the extent of calyx defl exion in the fruiting state and in the shape of nut- lets (Grau and Merxmüler 1972), but, on the other hand, all these characters are reported as highly variable across the distribution range (Riedl 1967). The author of M. refracta (Boissier 1841) reported its rocky habitats in the subalpine to alpine belt, and obviously the species is a high mountain dweller in the southern parts of its distribution. In cooler areas, as in Macedonia it was found to range from the lowlands to the montane belt, 200– 1000 m a.s.l. (Matevski 2010), and in Crimea is found in shaded rocky places in the lowlands (Fedorov 1981). All authors reported rocky habitats and pioneer plant communi- ties. More specifi c ecological conditions are reported for Macedonia, where the species can also be found along paths (Matevski 2010). Meikle 1985 reports it from diabase and serpentine gravel on slopes, and, most precisely its ecology is described in Mountain fl ora of Greece as includ- ing »rocky pastures, often in somewhat damp, semi-shaded, nutrient rich places« (Strid 1991). Material and methods A revision of all available material of the genus Myoso- tis stored in the Herbarium LJU (University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology) was carried out in 2015. Identifi cations were checked using the keys in Flora Europaea (Grau and Merxmüler 1972), and charac- ters given in other publications including original descrip- tions: Boissier 1841, Greuter and Grau 1970, Hand 2015. Results and discussion Three specimens of Myosotis refracta Boiss. from the Kolpa valley area in southeast Slovenia were identifi ed in the Herbarium LJU. All had been collected by M. Accetto between the years 1999 and 2007, and previously misiden- tifi ed as M. stricta Link ex Roemer & Schultes: 1) 0454/3 Slovenia: SE Slovenia, valley of river Kolpa, Osilnica, above Ribjek by Kolpa, foothill of overhang- ing rock wall, E from Mož, 200 m a.s.l., leg. M. Accet- to, 2. 5. 2007. LJU10133797. 2) 0454/4 Slovenia: SE Slovenia, valley of river Kolpa, Osilnica, rock wall E of Fistov rep, 940 m a.s.l., leg. M. Accetto, 6. 6. 1999. LJU10119844. 3) 0454/3 Slovenia: SE Slovenia, valley of river Kolpa, Osilnica, rock wall Fistov rep, 710 m a.s.l., leg. M. Ac- cetto, 30. 5. 1999. LJU10119845. The Slovene plants can clearly be referred to the type subspecies, Myosotis refracta subsp. refracta (Fig. 1) and with habitus and morphology very similar to the illustration of the type specimen from Spain (Boissier 1841). The fl owering time of the species is early spring. Speci- mens from Slovenia, sampled in May, were already in fruit- ing state. The ecological conditions in all three localities in Slo- venia, where herbarium specimens of M. refracta were col- lected, were very similar: narrow rocky shelves below overhanging dolomite rocks (slightly sheltered from rain), in open habitats on fi ne dolomite debris, slopes facing north-west or east. Myosotis refracta was growing together with: Arabis alpina subsp. alpina, Poa bulbosa, Sesleria juncifolia subsp. kalnikensis, Cardaminopis arenosa, Ta- raxacum laevigatum agg., Anisantha tectorum, Hornungia petraea and few other species. Due the specifi c habitat and species composition, a new association from the Alysso-Se- dion alliance, »Arabido alpinae-Myosotidetum strictae« had been described (Accetto 2008). Myosotis refracta (at Fig. 1. The herbarium specimen of Myosotis refracta, collected on 2nd of May 2007 in Slovenia in valley of river Kolpa by M. Accet- to (LJU10133797), photo by: A. Kladnik. STRGULC KRAJŠEK S., ACCETTO M., JOGAN N. 212 ACTA BOT. CROAT. 75 (2), 2016 that time erroneously determined as M. stricta) actually comprises the edifi cator species of the new association, se- lected on account of its relatively high mean cover value. In accordance with International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (Weber et al. 2000) the name of association has now to be changed to Arabido alpinae-Myosotidetum refractae Accetto 2008 corr. Strgulc Krajšek, Accetto & Jo- gan 2016, nom. corr. hoc loco. The gap between the known distribution range (Grau and Merxmüler 1972) and the newly discovered localities in Slovenia is more than 500 km. Due to early fl owering and extreme ecological conditions of M. refracta habitats it is highly possible that the species could have been over- looked in similar habitats along the Dinarides. Myosotis refracta is not the only representative of Bor- aginaceae with such extreme ecology; a comparable one is Asperugo procumbens L. (Martinčič 2007). With their ob- vious adaptation to epizoochorous fruit dispersal we can think of some animal species adapted to rocky cliffs as po- tential vectors. Wild goats have already been mentioned in literature as sharing habitats with M. refracta, but as the di- asporae are really tiny, also some bird of the rocky habitats as Tichodroma muraria (L., 1766) (wallcreeper) might have been a vector. That would be especially important for long- distance dispersal. According to the previously known distribution and its recent discovery occurrence in Slovenia, it seems possible that Myosotis refracta may be found in other localities along the Dinaric arc, such as in Croatia and Montenegro. Acknowledgements This work was supported by Slovenian Research Agen- cy grant no. P1-0212. The authors thank Tinka Bačič for valuable discussions, Aleš Kladnik for photo of herbarium specimen, and reviewers for comments and additions to the manuscript. References Accetto, M., 2008: Floristic and vegetation curiosities at the foot of the overhanging rock face with the rock shelter above Rib- jek upon the Kolpa River Area (S Slovenia). Hladnikia 21, 3–17. 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