Blitum venetum (Chenopodiaceae), a new species from the north-eastern Dolomites (Italian Eastern Alps)

A new species, Blitum venetum Iamonico, Argenti, Sciuto & Wolf is described from the Dolomites Massif (North-Eastern Italy) on basis of molecular analyses (nuclear ITS and plastid trnL-F regions) morphological investigation. The species similar to B. bonus-henricus californicum, but it differs these taxa by characters leaves (width, pubescence, margins), inflorescence (presence bracts), perianth segments (colour), seeds (diameter, colour, seed testa ornamentation). Moreover, in phylogenetic reconstructions results as clearly separated other genus; this finding was further strengthened nucleotide divergences calculated between sequence type specimen taxa, which are comparable with interspecific inside genus.