Neofita / Neophyte
Alloctona naturalizzata / Naturalized alien
This name has been synonymized with E. flavescens (Poir.) Urb. (Jiménez Mejías and Luceño 2007) or treated as a variety of the latter species (Smith et al. 2002). We consider this taxon at species rank, as an alien. On the contrary, we regard E. caduca (Delile) Schult. as a native plant (Bartolucci et al. 2024). Verloove and Soldano (2011) reported another species, namely E. flavescens, as a weed in the heathlands of Piemonte. However, in a sample of these heathland plants, we detected the typical features of E. olivacea. However, the global taxonomic treatment of this group is confusing: Old and New World plants assigned to E. flavescens or E. caduca are poorly distinct and the type materials of E. caduca and E. flavescens are virtually undistinguishable. Also the putative geographical separation of these two taxa (Old vs. New World) is a weak argument, since a number of tropical and subtropical Cyperaceae show a circumglobal distribution. Additional biosystematic studies, including DNA sequences, may clarify the taxonomic relationships within this complex.

Lombardia: naturalizzata / naturalized; Piemonte: naturalizzata / naturalized;