Article

Taxonomical, nomenclatural and chorological aspects of Astragalus angustifolius Lam., a critical and still not deeply investigated species, are examined. It is a typical orophyte, with a thorny cushion-like habit, distributed in the eastern Mediterranean territories. Based on literature, A. angustifolius represents a species complex, including many taxa at specific, subspecific or variety level. From field, herbarium and literature investigations, it was possible to clarify the taxonomical position of the taxa hitherto referred to A. angustifolius s.l., as well as of those ones showing close relationships with this species. The identified taxa are the followings: A. angustifolius Lam. with the subsp. angustifolius (Anatolia), subsp. echinoides (L’Hér.) stat. nov. (Crete), subsp. erinaceus (C. Presl) stat. nov. (C & S Greece, Cephalonia), subsp. balcanicus subsp. nov. (N Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, and Albania), subsp. postianus subsp. nov. (Lebanon and Syria), subsp. aegeicus subsp. nov. (Lesvos, Samos and Chios), and subsp. odonianus subsp. nov. (Thassos), A. pungens Willd. (Anatolia), A. valdeviolaceus sp. nov. (S Anatolia), A. hubermorathii sp. nov. (S Anatolia), A. hermoneus Boiss. (Lebanon and Syria), A. sirinicus Ten. (Italy), A. tymphresteus Boiss. & Spruner (N Greece, Macedonia, Albania and Serbia), A. taygeteus Perss. & Strid (S Peloponnese), A. heideri Wettst. (S Anatolia), A. genargenteus Moris (Sardinia), A. gennarii Bacch. & Brullo (Sardinia), A. greuteri Bacch. & Brullo (Corsica), A. croaticus Alegro & al. (Croatia). For each species the updated nomenclature, synonyms, type, iconography and distribution range are given. A phylogenetic tree based on morphological data is provided too.