Phytotaxa 298 (2): 119–133 http://www.mapress.com/j/pt/ Copyright © 2017 Magnolia Press Article PHYTOTAXA ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition) ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition) Accepted by Alexander Sennikov: 14 Feb. 2017; published: 10 Mar. 2017 https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.298.2.2 119 Reassembling the Centaurea tenorei group (Asteraceae) puzzle: typification of the names ANNALISA SANTANGELO 1 , EMANUELE DEL GUACCHIO 2* , PAOLA CENNAMO 3 & PAOLO CAPUTO 1,4 1 Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, via Foria 223, 80139, Napoli, Italy 2 Via R. Galdieri 18, 84129, Salerno, Italy; e-mail: edelgua@email.it. 3 Facoltà di Lettere, Università degli Studi “Suor Orsola Benincasa”, via Santa Caterina da Siena 37, 80135, Napoli, Italy. 4 Orto Botanico di Napoli, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, via Foria 223, 80139, Napoli, Italy. * author for correspondence Abstract The Centaurea tenorei group (Asteraceae), strictly endemic to the Peninsula of Sorrento (southern Italy), has been recently split into three microspecies: C. tenorei s.str., C. montaltensis and C. lacaitae. Seven pertinent names are typified in this work and preliminarily identified according to the three species concept. The selected types clearly reflect the variability of the group and some names may correspond to hybrids with other Centaurea or to intermediates between the three microspe- cies, which appear therefore hard to discriminate on morphological grounds. Key words: Campania, Centaurea sect. Dissectae, Fiori, Gussone, Lacaita, Tenore Introduction Centaurea Linnaeus (1753: 909) (Asteraceae, Cardueae) is one of the most widespread, differentiated and critical genera of Asteraceae in the Euro-Mediterranean area (Dostál 1976a, Greuter 2006−2015, Hilpold et al. 2011). The Centaurea tenorei Guss. ex Lacaita (1922: 174) group is strictly endemic to calcareous rocks (rarely tuffs) of the Peninsula of Sorrento (province of Salerno and Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy) (Pignatti & Lausi 1982). The group has been recently subdivided into three microspecies (one diploid, two tetraploid) (Peruzzi 2008), whose names are still not typified (Peruzzi et al. 2015). However, the populations constituting these taxa are very variable in morphology and weakly differentiated in terms of their ecology and geographical distribution (Fiori 1907, Lacaita 1922, Pignatti & Lausi 1982, Guarino & Rampone 2006). Such a variability justifies the different taxonomic arrangements of this group in the course of time (Fiori 1904, 1907, 1927, Lacaita 1922, Pignatti & Lausi 1982, Peruzzi 2008), mainly including infraspecific taxa. The Centaurea tenorei group has been included in C. sect. Dissectae (Hayek 1901: 558) Dostál (1976b: 193), but its phylogeny is still uncertain (Hilpold et al. 2011), as well as are the mutual relationships and the taxonomic value of the recognised taxa (Palermo et al. 2002). However, for the purpose of this paper, we provisionally accept the taxonomic treatment proposed by Peruzzi (2008). Currently accepted names and the relevant synonyms are here discussed and typified, together with some misapplied names. This paper is also part of an ongoing project of nomenclatural and taxonomic studies on the rare or endemic flora of Central and southern Italy involving the Department of Biology of the University of Naples “Federico II” (e.g., Del Guacchio & Caputo 2005, 2008, 2013, Del Guacchio 2009, Cennamo et al. 2013, Peruzzi et al. 2013, Bartolucci et al. 2014, De Castro et al. 2013, 2015, Del Guacchio & Iamonico 2015, Vallariello et al. 2016, Del Guacchio et al. 2016). Taxonomic overview The group in question was originally treated as part of C. dissecta Tenore (1812: LI), a very variable taxon (Tenore