Studies in the genus Eryngium L.

Introduction
According to Pimenov & Leonov (Genera of the Umbelliferae, 1993) Eryngium L. is the genus with the most species in the Umbelliferae. It is rather heterogeneous, containing for example woody plants, perennials with monocotyloid and Cirsium-like habit, and annuals. The last treatment of the genus as a whole was done by Wolff (Das Pflanzenreich IV.228, 1913). The current study is an attempt to undertake a new revision of the genus. It is intended as a taxonomic and systematic investigation including cladistics, chromosome numbers, and (if possible) DNA sequence analysis. Furthermore, it is intended to include the habitat preferences that are the result of the evolutionary process. Habitat preferences can be indicated by the vegetation units the species grow in. The first stage of the project is a taxonomic list of species including synonyms, unabbreviated and verified citations, and type material. At the moment this list consists of 261 species and 10 hybrids. It is nearly complete and should be publishes in 1999. The second stage is an Excel-based spreadsheet of the characters to enable a satisfactory subdivision of the genus. This method is similar to the phenetic approach and will be the basis for a data matrix for a cladistic analysis.

Author(s)
Arno Wörz, Stuttgart, Germany.

Scheduling
On going. Annotated species list due to be published in 1999.

Publications arising from this work