In this study, we critically revised and updated the checklist of native vascular plants of Mongolia. The checklist comprises 3,041 native vascular plant taxa (2,835 species and 206 infraspecific species) from 653 genera and 111 families, including 7 lycophytes, 41 ferns, 21 gymnosperms, and 2,972 angiosperms. In the angiosperms, we identified the 14 families with the greatest species richness, ranging from 50 to 456 taxa. Species endemism is also noted here; 102 taxa are endemic to Mongolia, and 275 taxa are sub-endemic that co-occur in adjacent countries. Since 2014, a total of 14 taxa have been described new to science based on morphological evidences. Moreover, five genera and 74 taxa were newly added to the flora of Mongolia. Based on our critical revisions, names of three families, 21 genera, and 230 species have been changed in comparison to the previous checklist, “Conspectus of the vascular plants of Mongolia” (2014).

Mountains form a diverse mosaic of microhabitats over small distances created by changes in climate, soil, and water availability. A key to adaptation of plants to such microhabitats is genetic variation; however, natural accumulation of genetic variation through mutation is slow and often not sufficient alone. Adaptive introgression via hybridization is an alternative to generate genetic variation. Here, we investigate hybridization and discuss its adaptive role in Veronica subg. Pseudolysimachium at their Altai Mountains distribution. To support our hypotheses of frequent hybridization, we genotyped thousands of SNPs for 233 individuals from 10 species and 7 putative hybrids previously described based on morphology. We employed Bayesian and likelihood statistical models and supported our results by morphometric analysis and genomic in situ hybridization (GISH). The results suggest that almost all the individuals of the putative hybrids are of F1 type. The GISH investigation in one case strongly supports homoploid hybridization (origin of V. ×schmakovii from V. longifolia and V. porphyriana. Divergence times of Altai Veronica species are estimated to be within 1–2 million years ago with high probability of gene flow over that time. Our results also demonstrate that the direction of gene flow is mainly from the locally endemic V. porphyriana. We hypothesize that the large Siberian plains and topographically diverse foreland of the Altai Mountains provide an ideal setting for hybridization with the potential for adaptive introgression of alleles conferring tolerance to cooler climates, to the lowland species migrating into the Altai Mountains.

We report on the occurrence of Orobanche krylowii in the Alpet Shqiptare (Prokletije, Albanian Alps) mountain range in northern Albania (Balkan Peninsula). The species was previously known only from eastern-most Europe (Volga-Kama River in Russia), more than 2500 km away, and from adjacent Siberia and Central Asia. We used morphological evidence as well as nuclear ribosomal ITS sequences to show that the Albanian population indeed belongs to O. krylowii and that its closest relative is the European O. lycoctoni, but not O. elatior as assumed in the past. Both Orobanche krylowii and O. lycoctoni parasitize Ranunculaceae (Thalictrum spp. and Aconitum lycoctonum, respectively). We provide an identification key and a taxonomic treatment for O. krylowii, and suggest the IUCN category CE (critically endangered) for the highly disjunct Albanian population.

A new, probably endemic species, Orobanche mlokosiewiczii (Orobanchaceae) is described from Georgia, in the Greater Caucasus. The species grows near waterfalls, on slopes with thermo-hygrophilous subalpine tall herbaceous vegetation, and is exclusively parasitic of another endemic species: Aconitum cymbulatum. It is a graceful whitish or pale white-yellow plant, characterised by campanulate flowers and usually a very wide open throat of corolla. So far, for the Orobanche parasite on Aconitum (exlusively A. lycoctonum) only one species O. lycoctoni is known—occurring in the Cantabrian Mts. in Spain and in the Alps. A detailed description, diagnosis, illustrations, and comparison with possible related species (O. lycoctoni, O. krylowii, O. inulae, O. flava subsp. cicerbitae) are provided. We also present phylogenetic analysis, and nomenclatural notes about the above species, and a lectotype of O. inulae is designated. Moreover, inside the Orobanche sect. Orobanche, a new combination Orobanche subsect. Curvatae and a new series Orobanche ser. Krylowianae are proposed and their types are designated.

Конспект вероник подрода Pseudolysimachium (Veronica, Plantaginaceae) Сибири

— Veronica subgen. Pseudolysimachium constitutes a group of about 28 species across northern Eurasia, many of them with considerable intraspecific morphological variation. This intraspecific variation may be due to large geographical distribution area, wide ecological amplitude, or widespread hybridization and polyploidization. Several recent studies using molecular data have shown that hybridization as an explanation for generating evolutionary novelties and high intraspecific variation may be more common than previously thought. Here we investigate the importance of hybridization in generating morphological variation and blurring species boundaries in V. subgen. Pseudolysimachium using analyses of cpDNA sequences from 139 individuals from 18 species and ten putative hybrids, and pyrosequenced ITS1 nrDNA sequences from 37 individuals from 16 species and four putative hybrids. In addition, we estimated ploidy levels for 42 individuals of ten species and five putative hybrids using flow cytometry. Analyses of cpDNA did not resolve phylogenetic structure (most of the species were polyphyletic). Our second approach, pyrosequencing of ITS1, generated up to nine different unique sequences per individual and phylogenetic analyses of the dataset resolved some basal nodes but, again, species were often non-monophyletic. The results are most compatible with a scenario of an East Asian origin and repeated spread across Pleistocene Eurasian steppes, known as important plant diversification center, with frequent interspecific hybridization. We compare the applicability of these molecular regions for resolving hybridizing species complexes and specifically address hypotheses of hybrid origins for several species within the subgenus. However, any population genetic, phylogeographic or other analysis of evolutionary questions in one species alone would be futile without considering introgression from related species.