Phanerogams
OPTIMA, 28-02-2016, Werner Greuter
The author presents us with a comprehensive monographic revision of the columbines of Africa and Europe. The title of the book is therefore an understatement, as the word Europe appears only in the Latin subtitle and Africa not at all (the latter omission is explained by the fact that the genus extends to Africa only marginally, with two species endemic to Morocco and Algeria). All 54 species recognised by the author are treated in full, each with synonymy, description, specimen enumeration, notes, and indication of habitat, distribution, phenology, etc. Those 18 that occur in, and 11 of which are endemic to, Italy are treated in greater detail, with keys (one to identify herbarium material, another for live plants), illustrations, and maps of their Italian distribution. Yet the presentation of the 36 extra-Italian species is far more than a “synopsis”, as the corresponding title, too modestly, tells.
The species treated here are only a fraction of the known columbines (80 to 400 species worldwide, depending on different authors’ concepts), and Europe is not the primary centre of diversity of or origin for the genus. Southern Europe does, however, show secondary centres of diversity and speciation, to name the Balkan, Apennine and Pyrenean peninsulas and the Tyrrhenian islands. Europe is also the arguably main source of names published in the past underAquilegia and the unchallenged centre of disparity of taxonomic
concepts applied to the plants. Nardi’s monograph has successfully faced the challenge of defining and applying criteria for species-level classification that are based on a whole-population concept, noting but discounting individual aberrations, ontogenetic and environment-induced variation, and the effects of introgressive hybridisation. He thus applies modern concepts supported by a lifetime’s study of the plants in the wild and extrapolating the experience thus assembled to other, non-Italian populations.
The columbines are easy to treat in certain respects, e.g. by not presenting problems of generic delimitation; but they also present traits that make their classification hazardous, such as the general crossability, often indeed full interfertility of its component species; the lack of distinctive karyological differences (all appear to have a uniform karyotype with 2n = 14 small chromosomes, no polyploidy or aneuploidy having so far been reported); and the loss, in pressed and dried material, of taxonomically relevant features such as colour and spatial configuration of the perianth. In order to better understand and interpret the observed diversity, Nardi has delved into aspects of the spatio-temporal development of the genus, from its presumed E Asian origin to its currently displayed chorological and variational patterns, taking into account pollination biology in particular. All this, and much more, is embedde
d in the general introductory part of the book, which provides fluidly and elegantly written information on many subjects of general interest to biologists, far beyond Aquilegia taxonomy.
The book is bilingual (English and Italian) throughout, except for some elements, such as synonymies, specimen enumerations, and Appendices, that are in Latin, or treated as such, to avoid unnecessary duplication. The Italian species are illustrated by drawings of unstated authorship but mostly initialled AM (Anne Maury). No nomenclatural novelties are included (required new names have all been validated in precursory papers), but numerous type designations are effected in a 50-page appendix discussing the typification of all relevant names and synonyms. An impressively thorough bibliography (55 pages) is found at the end.
Nardi’s monograph is the result of a botanist’s lifetime of study and endeavour, skilfully presented, devoted to a fascinating genus. The original dual designation of the plant as Columbina and Aquilina, still used by Mattioli, depicts and interprets its initially nodding flower as a ring of five doves in the act of alighting, which, inverted through anthesis, become the talons of an eagle’s foot. The Medieval corruption of Aquilina to Aquilegia, with its usual but less plausible etymology of “[rain]water-collecting”, adds an endearing humorous touch to the object of this scholarly masterpiece.

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