Campanula cichoracea (Campanulaceae), a neglected species from the Balkan-Carpathian C-lingulata complex as inferred from molecular and morphological characters

The taxonomically intricate Campanula lingulata complex confined to the Balkan Peninsula is reviewed using molecular and morphological data. An extensive sample of 62 individuals for phylogenetic analyses and 402 individuals for morphometric analysis from 17 populations across the species range was used. The phylogenetic analyses based on two chloroplast intergenic spacers (trnG(UCC)-trnS(GCU) and psbA-trnH) and morphological analysis based on 50 characters revealed two allopatrically distributed lineages of the C. lingulata complex that comprise individuals from the C and S Balkans, respectively. Both molecular and morphological data allowed us to re-establish C. cichoracea Sm., a species endemic to Thessaly in Greece. This species can easily be distinguished from C. lingulata s.str. by its calyx appendages hairy on the margins and adaxial side, and ovary continuously downwards hairy all over the surface. Molecular characters that can be used to distinguish these two species comprise four parsimony-informative substitutions within trnG(UCC)-trnS(GCU), and a microsatellite with a dinucleotide (AT) motif present only within the psbA-trnH region in C. lingulata. Further studies are required for resolving the taxonomic status of the remaining Macedonian and Rhodopean sub-lineages from the S Balkans.