New studies on the classification of the Carthamus-Carduncellus complex
A researching team from the Botanical Institute of Barcelona and the Autonomous University of Madrid has studied the Carthamus-Carduncellus complex, which is composed of 50 taxa distributed in the Mediterranean Basin and West Asia. The division of this complex has always been very controversial and so far three different taxonomic classifications have been proposed: to include all the species of the complex within a single genus (Carthamus L.), within two genera (Carthamus and Carduncellus Adans.) and within four genera (Carthamus, Carduncellus, Femeniasia Susanna and Phonus Hill). These changes in the classification also imply important changes in the nomenclature due to the genus name is part of the binomial name of the species (ex. Carthamus lanatus); all this has resulted in a large number of new nomenclatural combinations, even to the extent that some species of the complex have been subordinated within the four genera.
Trying to clarify this, molecular phylogenies and nuclear and plastid markers were performed and analysed by multispecies coalescence. The results give strong support to the classification based on four genera, and it is therefore proposed to maintain this hypothesis.
More information
Vilatersana, R., Calleja, J.A., Herrando-Moraira, S., Garcia-Jacas, N. and Susanna, A. 2022. Molecular insights on the conflicting generic boundaries in the Carduncellus-Carthamus complex (Compositae). TAXON.
