The Lybian collections in FI (Herbarium Centrale Italicum and Webb Herbarium) and studies on the Lybian flora by R. Pampanini – Part 1

Some exceptional collections of Libyan Flora are conserved in the Herbarium Centrale Italicum and Webb Herbarium, for the most part collected by Renato Pampanini and R.E.G. Pichi Sermolli in the 20th century, but also by other great botanists both Italian and of other nationalities. Their studies led to the descriptions of a remarkable number of new taxa, whose names only in small measure were subjected to typification and generally only sporadically. In this contribution we have dealt with the museological aspect of the original collections, taking into account that most of them are actually unknown. Moreover we approached the question of typification when material for the new taxa was available and furnished bibliographical data for those already typified. This investigation concerned in particular the material held in the Florentine Herbaria (FI and FI-W) but in some cases also PAD, PORUN, K, G, P, MPU, ULT and B. The work proved to be extremely complex and so we decided to divide it into two parts. In this first part, which we now publish, typification concerns taxa belonging to families from the letter A to M inclusive, as well as the Filices. A total of 240 new taxa have been indexed and 194 typified; all the material in the original collections has also been listed under the relative ranks. We have proposed taxonomic updates for each taxon.