Valerianella locusta
Island distribution (first record)
Othonoi
Ereikoussa
Mathraki
Corfu
Paxos
Antipaxos
Lefkada
Meganisi
Kalamos
Kastos
Atokos
Ithaka
Echinades
Cephalonia
Zakynthos
Strofades
Annotation: Valerianella locusta and V. carinata, often classified as species, are very similar: The former (»Lamb's Lettuce«, widely used as vegetable crop) differs only by the distinctive cork tissue developed on the back of the fertile locule of the fruit that appears therefore suborbicular in side view, while the fruits of V. carinata are oblong to prismatic (see photographs of the fruits!), with the fertile locule not corky. Genetically both fall into the same sub-cluster (Muminovic & al. 2004) in relation to other Valerianella species; most likely they are conspecific morphotypes (similar as other »species« pairs: cf. Devesa & al. 2005). »V. carinata«, or V. locusta f. carinata, is obviously the common type on the Ionian Islands (confirmed for Corfu, Lefkada, Meganisi, Ithaka, Cephalonia and Zakynthos), while f. locusta so far is only reported from Corfu, Paxos and Cephalonia. [2017-01-23]
Taxonomic references ("taxonyms")
linked to standard floras (PFB, FE, FE2, FH) and annotated checklists (AFE, VPG) giving direct reference to occurrences of plant taxa on the Ionian Islands:
PFB: | Valerianella carinata, Valerianella locusta |
FE: | Valerianella carinata, Valerianella locusta |
FE2: | volume not published |
AFE: | volume not published |
FH: | volume not published |
VPG: | Valerianella locusta, Valerianella carinata |