A new combination in the genus Liparis (Orchidaceae) for the Italian flora

The genus Liparis Richard (1817: 21) comprises about 320 species, broadly distributed worldwide but mainly in tropical and subtropical areas (Pridgeon et al. 2005). In Europe only the circumboreal L. loeselii (Linnaeus 1753: 947) Richard (1817: 38) occurs (Hultén & Fries 1986). Recently the new taxon L. loeselii (L.) Rich. subsp. nemoralis Perazza et al. (2012: 489) was described from northeastern Italy. It is endemic to Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige (Perazza & Lorenz 2013, Peruzzi et al. 2014). Based on molecular and morphological data (Perazza & Tsutsumi 2015) the systematic position of L. loeselii subsp. nemoralis was recently revised. It was regarded as subspecies of L. kumokiri Maekawa (1936: 95), a species distributed in Japan, East Russia and Korea (Satomi 1982, Perazza & Tsutsumi 2015), with the name L. kumokiri subsp. nemoralis (Perazza, Decarli, Filippin, Bruna & Regattin) Perazza & Tsutsumi (2015: 321). According to Perazza & Tsutsumi (2015), the possibility that L. loeselii subsp. nemoralis is an alien plant cannot be ruled out, since L. kumokiri is one of the most popular orchids in Japan and sometimes it is sold in flower pots. If this really would be the case, considering the herbaria specimens collected in Italy two centuries ago and its presence in several valleys along a line of about 140 km, its introduction should have occurred long time ago. On the contrary, the close relationship between L. loeselii subsp. nemoralis and L. kumokiri supports the hypothesis that it could be a relict unit. Anyway, L. loeselii subsp. nemoralis differs from L. kumokiri (Perazza et al. 2012, Perazza & Tsutsumi 2015) and considering its geographic isolation (about 10,500 Km) we deem more opportune to regard it as a distinct species.