History vs. legend: Retracing invasion and spread of Oxalis pes-caprae L. in Europe and the Mediterranean area.

ABSTRACT: Oxalis pes-caprae L. is a South African geophyte that behaves as an invasive in the eurimediterranean area. According to a long-established hypothesis, O. pes-caprae may have invaded Europe and the Mediterranean area starting from a single plant introduced in the Botanical Garden of Malta at the beginning of the 19th century. The aim of this work was to test this hypothesis, to track the arrival of O. pes-caprae in different countries of the Euro-Mediterranean area and to understand the pathways of spreading and particularly its starting point(s). Historical data attesting the presence of the plant in the whole Euro-Mediterranean region were collected from different sources: herbarium specimens, Floras and other botanical papers, plant lists of gardens, catalogs of plant nurseries and plan

SUBMITTER: Papini A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5747460 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature