Article

HackeI's Monographia Festucarum Europaearum (1882) can be considered the starting point of modem systemati c studies on this criticaI genus in Europe. After his work, almost one hundred years of infonnation was summed up by Markgraf-Dannenberg (1980) in her treatment of the genus in Flora Europaea. Here, the total number of species had increased from 28 (Hacke1 (882) to 170. However, this was due more to the raising to the rank of species of many infraspecific taxa, than to the recognition of new enti ti es as a result of taxonomic investigations. During these hundred years, the increase of knowledge on the systematic of this genus was very unequal in different European countries: in some of them like France, many in-depth investigations were carried out, while in other countries Iike Italy, studies started Iater and were much Iess exhausti ve. Our research team has been carrying out taxonomic investigations on the genus Festuca in Italy for several years, making use of modem systematic tooIs, among which typification and study of type material play an important role. In many instances, the results of our researches Ied to remarkable taxonomic rearrangements within criticaI groups. Some examples are illustrated, conceming the F violacea group, the endemic F robustifolia, and the relations between F gracilior and F inops.