Appearances Can Be Deceptive: Morphological, Phylogenetic, and Nomenclatural Delineation of Two Newly Named African Species Related to <i>Frankenia pulverulenta</i> (Frankeniaceae).

ABSTRACT: Frankenia is a morphologically complex genus, with some species exhibiting a few diagnostic characters and significant morphological variability. This has led to misidentification or the synonymisation of many names based on one or a few diagnostic traits. This phenomenon affects the annual sea-heath, F. pulverulenta, a Eurasian-Mediterranean herb that has become subcosmopolitan, to which several entities have been included due to their shared features, namely their annual lifespan or their flattened leaves. However, this fact also extends to shrubby species, such as the Madeiran F. cespitosa. Here, integrative taxonomic studies, encompassing detailed morphological descriptions of macro- and microcharacters along with molecular phylogenetic analyses of both nuclear rib

SUBMITTER: Alonso MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11991498 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature