Sileneneglecta has been misunderstood and confused with S.nocturna, although several morphological characters (petal shape, calyx indumentum, hairiness of stamen filaments, seed size, seed-coat surface and shape) allow separation of these species. Moreover, S.mutabilis (which has been considered conspecific with S.neglecta) and S.martinolii (an alleged endemic species to south-western Sardinia) are considered here as taxonomic synonyms of S.nocturna and S.neglecta, respectively. These taxonomic conclusions are strongly supported by multivariate morphometric analyses of 21 characters.
Keywords: Mediterranean Basin; morphometrics; nomenclature; taxonomy.
Llorenç Sáez, Melilia Mesbah, Javier López-Alvarado, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Ridha El Mokni, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Bengt Oxelman.