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ARS Home » Plains Area » Sidney, Montana » Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory » Pest Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #314593

Title: Tamarix minoa (Tamaricaceae), a new species from the island of Crete (Greece) based on morphological and plastid molecular sequence data

Author
item VILLAR, JOSE - Universidad De Alicante
item TURLAND, NICHOLAS - Botanischer Garten Und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem
item JUAN, ANA - Universidad De Alicante
item Gaskin, John
item ALONSO, MARIA - Universidad De Alicante
item CRESPO, MANUEL - Universidad De Alicante

Submitted to: Taxon
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/17/2015
Publication Date: 6/17/2015
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/60983
Citation: Villar, J.L., Turland, N.J., Juan, A., Gaskin, J.F., Alonso, M.A., Crespo, M.B. 2015. Tamarix minoa (Tamaricaceae), a new species from the island of Crete (Greece) based on morphological and plastid molecular sequence data. Taxon. 45(2):161-172. DOI: 10.3372/wi.45.45201.

Interpretive Summary: We discover and name a new plant species; Tamarix minoa. It is from the genus that contains saltcedar, one of the worst invasive plants in the USA. This new species comes from Greece, and we describe the morphology that separates it from other Tamarix species, and we also determine which Tamarix species it is most closely related to using molecular data.

Technical Abstract: Tamarix minoa is described from material collected on the S Aegean island of Crete (Kriti), Greece. A morphological comparison with the species considered to be closest, T. africana and T. hampeana, is provided. An original illustration showing the main morphological characters of the new species is also given, as are photographs of the new species in its habitat. Finally, the isolated phylogenetic position of T. minoa is shown to be strongly supported by plastid molecular sequence data (trnS-trnG, trnQ-rps16 and ndhf-rpl32), thus warranting its recognition at specific rank.