Abstract

The Euganean Hills are a well-known refugee site for thermophilous woody flora in northern Italy. Among the species recorded here, there is Quercus dalechampii. The Euganean Hills are the only northern Italy site where the occurrence of this oak species is considered. The aim of this paper was to verify the presence of Q. dalechampii in the study area and to select possible diagnostic morphological traits that are usable to distinguish it from Q. petraea and Q. pubescens. Forest stands dominated by Q. petraea, Q. pubescens, and the presumed Q. dalechampii were sampled using the phytosociological approach to highlight their ecological features. Leaf and fruit material from 104 oak individuals was analysed from a macro-morphological and micro-morphological point of view. Leaf shape was also analysed using the geometric morphometric approach. All multivariate analysis procedures applied on the matrices of leaf and fruit traits highlighted two main clusters of morphological diversity. One was restricted to Q. pubescens individuals, and the other one was a mix of Q. petraea and presumed Q. dalechampii individuals. According to the twig and leaf trichome traits, all presumed Q. dalechampii individuals were classified as belonging to the Q. petraea collective group. Morphological differences between Q. petraea and presumed Q. dalechampii were considered not significant. In conclusion, the occurrence of a third oak species, in addition to Q. petraea and Q. pubescens, was not confirmed for the study area by the results of this paper.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

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意大利北部落叶橡树林的形态学、几何形态测量学和分类学

摘要

Euganean Hills 是意大利北部著名的嗜热木本植物群的避难所。在这里记录的物种中，有Quercus dalechampii。Euganean Hills 是意大利北部唯一被认为存在这种橡树的地方。本文的目的是验证研究区域中Q. dalechampii的存在，并选择可用于将其与Q. petraea和Q. pubescens区分开来的可能的诊断形态特征。森林林分以Q. petraea、Q. pubescens和假定的Q. dalechampii 为主使用植物社会学方法对它们进行采样，以突出它们的生态特征。从宏观形态学和微观形态学的角度分析了 104 个橡树个体的叶子和果实材料。还使用几何形态测量方法分析了叶子形状。应用于叶和果实性状矩阵的所有多变量分析程序突出了形态多样性的两个主要集群。一种仅限于Q. pubescens个体，另一种是Q. petraea和推定的Q. dalechampii个体的混合体。根据枝条和叶毛的性状，所有推测的Q. dalechampii个体都被归类为Q. petraea集体组。Q. petraea和推测的Q. dalechampii之间的形态差异被认为不显着。综上所述，本文的结果并未证实在研究区存在第三种橡树种，即Q. petraea和Q. pubescens。

图形摘要