New Data on Native and Alien Vascular Flora of Sicily (Italy): New Findings and Updates.

In this paper, based on fieldwork and herbaria surveys, new data concerning the presence of 32 native and alien vascular species for Sicily (Italy) are provided. Among the native species, the occurrence of the following taxa is reported for the first time or confirmed after many decades of non-observation: Aira multiculmis, Arum maculatum, Carex flacca subsp. flacca, Mentha longifolia, Oxybasis chenopodioides, Najas minor and Xiphion junceum. Furthermore, we document the presence of three native species (Cornus mas, Juncus foliosus and Limonium avei) that, despite being repeatedly observed in Sicily and reported in the literature, are inexplicably omitted by the most recent authoritative checklists regarding the flora of Italy. Finally, fifteen alien species new to Sicily (including one new to Europe, i.e., Pyrus betulifolia) are reported and seven poorly documented allochthonous taxa are confirmed for the island, and for two of them, a status change is proposed. These new or confirmed records allow us to better define the European and national distribution of the targeted taxa and offer new insights on the native and alien flora of Sicily.

Ethnobotany of the Aegadian Islands: safeguarding biocultural refugia in the Mediterranean.

BACKGROUND: The Aegadian Islands are located west of Trapani, Sicily. Once the site of bountiful tuna fisheries and fruit orchards (plums, peaches, apricots), grapevines, prickly pears, and grains, the local economy is now based on tourism, and many traditional agricultural and maritime practices have been abandoned. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the state of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) concerning the use of wild and cultivated plants and fungi for human health, food, maritime, and agricultural purposes on the islands of Levanzo, Favignana, and Marettimo and compare present-day practices with those documented in the past. METHODS: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in Italian with 48 participants with prior informed consent from May 2016 to July 2017 and October 2018. Herbarium voucher specimens of wild species were collected for herbarium deposit. A rigorous literature review of scientific and other local reports on TEK of wild flora and their application in food, health, and household applications was undertaken for the purpose of comparing findings from this field study with prior reports. RESULTS: A total of 122 plant and five fungal taxa representing 54 families were cited for 355 uses. Among the most pervasive species in the landscape, Agave americana and A. sisalana had diverse applications in the past, which ranged from cordage for agricultural and maritime applications to tools for sewing, eating land snails, and constructing furniture. Fields of Ferula communis also dominate the landscape, and the dry stems were used extensively in furniture making; this species also serves as an environmental indicator for the location of the most preferred edible mushrooms, Pleurotus eryngii var. ferulae. Other important flora included topical medicinal applications of Glaucium flavum for hematomas and Artemisia arborescens for ritual bathing of newborns. CONCLUSION: While many plant-based traditions have disappeared from daily practice, especially those related to traditional fishing and health practices, they remain in the memories of the eldest subset of the population. Documenting this knowledge before it disappears from oral history is a key factor in reducing loss of TEK and biocultural diversity, safeguarding the role of the Aegadian Islands as biocultural refugia.

An Updated Checklist of the Sicilian Native Edible Plants: Preserving the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Century-Old Agro-Pastoral Landscapes.

The traditional use of native wild food plants (NWFP) may represent a valuable supplementary food source for the present and future generations. In Sicily, the use of wild plants in the human diet dates back to very ancient times and still plays an important role in some rural communities. Moreover, in this regard, the natural and cultural inheritance of this island is wealthy and diversified for several reasons. First, Sicily hosts a rich vascular flora, with 3,000 native and 350 endemic plants. Second, due to its central position in the Mediterranean, the island has acted as a veritable melting pot for the ethnobotanical knowledge of the rural communities of the entire basin. We reviewed all the available literature and, starting from such omnicomprehensive checklist, partially improved thanks to the data issuing from recent field investigations, we critically revised the whole species list, basing our review on field data issuing from interviews and on our expert knowledge. As a result, we provide a substantially updated list of 292 NWFP growing on the island. Further 34 species, reported as NWFP on previous papers were discarded because they are not native to Sicily, while 45 species were listed separately because their identity, occurrence and local use as food is doubtful and needs to be further investigated. Moreover, we tried to shed light on the ecology (growth form and preferential habitat) of the Sicilian NWFP, with special focus on crop wild relatives (CWR). Our preliminary ecological analyses point out that a high percentage of these plants are linked with the so-called 'cultural' landscapes, patchy semi-natural environments rich in ecotones, leading to the conclusion that the maintenance of century-old agro-pastoral practices may represent an effective way to preserve the local heritage of edible plants. Our study allowed to identify as much as 102 taxa of agronomic interest which could be tested as novel crops in order to face ongoing global changes and to comply with sustainable agriculture policies. Among them, 39 taxa show promising traits in terms of tolerance to one or more environmental stress factors, while 55 more are considered CWR and/or can be easily cultivated and/or show high productivity/yield potential.