<i>Primula</i> ×<i>chignolensis</i> (Ericales: Primulaceae), a new primrose hybrid discovered in Val Seriana (northern Italy)

Abstract

A new hybrid of primrose discovered fifteen years ago in the locality Bivacco La Plana, Pre-Alps of Bergamo, above Chignolo, a hamlet of the municipality of Oneta, later also confirmed for the crest of Mount Alben, always in the same municipality, is here described. The parental species turn out to be Primula albenensis Banfi & Ferl. and P. auricula L., the former endemic to the mountains of Bergamo (Mount Alben, Mount Aralalta group and the Ancogno Valley), the latter a European orophyte, here coexisting often together on limestone faces. The new finding shows constant morphology in its stands, and there is no evidence of either "hybrid swarming" or introgression to exclude the total sterility of the population and this occurrence should be considered result of a process of inter parentes hybrid speciation (nothospecies) deserving of taxonomic recognition.