Article

Swerlia punelala was first recorded from Bulgaria in 1883 by J. Pancié from the Western Stara Planina and the Rila Mountains to the south. Since no herbarium materia I was avoilable to Bulgarian botanists, the plants from Western Stara Planina were considered a misidentification for S. perennis. This was corroborated by the fact that ali Swertias collected later from Rila are indeed of the latter species. 80th taxa have been confused by many European botanists but are clearly distinct. A revised description of S. punelala is now presented, together with diagnosti c characters, ecological and distributional data for both taxa.