Overview of the floristic and taxonomic studies on Iridaceae Juss. in Bulgaria

Abstract

According to the current data, the family Iridaceae is represented in Bulgaria by 30 species, grouped into 5 genera. The territory of Bulgaria, as part of the Balkan Peninsula, is characterized as a part of a secondary speciation center for the largest genera in the Iris and Crocus. In addition to widespread species, there are local and regional endemics that are of great conservation importance. Despite this fact, it is little known about the taxonomy and phylogeny of Iridaceae in Bulgaria. The main purpose of this publication is to present the degree of study of the family in Bulgarian literature, compared to the investigations in the Balkan Peninsula and the literature in the world. Inventory of the collections in the national herbaria SO, SOA and SOM have done. Most of the materials have been collected in the years of the active field studies on the Bulgarian flora – at the beginning of the 20th century until the taxonomical work on the family in vol. II of Flora Reipublicae Popularis Bulgaricae in the middle 60s. The lack of taxonomical investigations in Bulgarian flora justifies the need to reconsider the taxonomical structure of the Iridaceae family. Preliminary studies on species chorology have shown that the Bulgarian floristic literature's data are outdated and do not coincide with recent taxonomic changes in polymorphic paraphyletic and polyphyletic groups. On other hand, the decisions in the phylogenetic relationships between the polyphyletic taxa could be realized using molecular techniques, which have not yet been implemented for the species in Bulgaria. The taxonomic complexity of the group and still scarce knowledge demands further studies in Bulgarian flora, including investigating phylogenetic relationships.