Abstracts, XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy) , 9-15

XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy), 9-15 September 2013
Karyological study of plants from maritime dunes of W. Peloponnisos
LIVERI E. 1 , BAREKA P. 2 , KAMARI G. 1
1 Botanical Institute, Section of Plant Biology, Department of Biology, University of Patras, Patras, Greece. E-mail:
eleni-liveri@hotmail.com
2 Laboratory of Systematic Botany, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
The importance of maritime sand dunes, as providing home to a multitude of both flora and fauna
species has been acknowledged in recent years and thus they are regarded as priority habitats for conservation
in the European Union. Sandy beaches in Greece have a very characteristic vegetation of
mostly perennial herbs. Most of them have a wide distribution along the Mediterranean and Atlantic
coasts. However, just a few local endemic species have been recorded.
As part of the dissertation of the first author, some interesting plants of maritime sands of W.
Peloponnisos were karyologically examined (e.g. Cakile maritima Scop., Centaurea seridis subsp.
sonchifolia (L.) Greuter, Dorycnium hirsutum (L.) Ser., Pancratium maritimum L.).
The chromosome number and the karyotype analysis for the studied taxa are given, along with notes
on their morphology, ecology and geographical distribution.
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