Pruno lusitanicae-Lauretea azoricae Oberd. ex Rivas-Mart. et al. 1977
EuroVegChecklist name (Mucina et al. 2016)
Pruno lusitanicae-Lauretea azoricae Oberd. ex Rivas-Mart. et al. 1977
Remarks
EuroVegChecklist
lau01 | This class comprises traditionally both seral scrub (Andryalo pinnatifidae-Ericetalia arboreae) and mature forest (Pruno-Lauretalia azoricae) vegetation. Undoubtedly, these units share many species, however the contrasting physiognomy, ecology (functioning) and syndynamic position of both orders does not match the modern view of the concept of class and therefore, this classification should be subject to a revision. (L. Mucina).
Synonyms
Pruno hixae-Lauretea novocanariensis Oberd. ex Rivas-Mart. et al.1977 corr. Rivas-Mart. et al. 2001
(2b, corr.superfl.)
Pruno hixae-Lauretea novocanariensis Oberd. 1965 corr. Rivas-Mart. et al. 2002
(2b, corr.superfl.)
– lau02 The formal name correction, as suggested by Rivas-Martínez et al. (2002a: 241) based on the recognition of the Madeiran, Canarian and Moroccan populations as L. novocanariensis (Rivas-Martínez et al. 2002a), is premature and therefore not accepted here. The recent molecular studies (Arroyo-García et al. 2001; Rodríguez-Sánchez et al. 2009) do not support the current delimitation of species within the genus Laurus. Both papers have demonstrated, for instance, that the Western Mediterranean and particularly Iberian laurel populations (considered as ‘L. nobilis’) are more closely related to Macaronesian ‘L. azorica’ than to other ‘L. nobilis’ populations from the Eastern Mediterranean. Because L. nobilis appeared paraphyletic to L. azorica, the status of which remained equivocal, we also refrain from further nomenclatural corrections until the latter issue is satisfactorily resolved. The mutation of the name to Pruno-Lauretea azoricae is a matter of preference for taxonomic rank since the current taxonomic concepts (see www.emplantbase.org) accept Prunus lusitanica subsp. hixa (Willd.) Franco as a valid subspecies concept. (L. Mucina).