Willdenowia – Annals of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem
ISSN 0511-9618
© 2004 BGBM Berlin-Dahlem.
Danin, A. 2004: Arundo (Gramineae) in the Mediterranean reconsidered.
Willdenowia 34: 361-369.
doi:10.3372/wi.34.34204
Abstract
Finding the recently described Arundo hellenica in Italy initiated a study on the identity of taxa related to A. plinii, in the field, in the literature and in several herbaria. According to the somewhat preliminary results, besides A. donax with nodding leaves, three species with upright leaves are proposed for recognition in the Mediterranean. Their distribution and ecology are still incompletely known. A. plinii in its original sense is shown to be a 1-2 m high riparian plant, so far confirmed to occur in N Italy, S France and, perhaps, NE Spain. A. mediterranea is described as a new species for the illegitimately named A. mauritanica of Desfontaines, which has hitherto been erroneously recorded as “A. plinii” and is a caespitose reed with 1-5 m long obliquely erect culms that branch already in the first year; it grows on alluvial clayey soils or high river terraces along temporary water courses of N Africa, Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, Lebanon and possibly other East Mediterranean countries. A. collina, including the recently described A. hellenica, is the lowest (0.5-2 [-3] m) and most drought resistant Arundo of the Mediterranean and forms monotypic grasslands on clay in badlands, on hill slopes up to 300 m, on sides of newly constructed roads, etc. and is currently known to occur in S Italy, mainland Greece and Crete.