The vegetation with Stipellula capensis (Thunb.) Röser & Hamasha in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy).

This paper describes the vegetation with Stipellula capensis in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy). The species is a terophyte with a strictly Mediterranean distribution and it is generally present in sub-nitrophilous pastures of small annual plants, on thin soils often rich in small clasts. The area investigated is an inter-mountain basin that is characterized by a Meso-Mediterranean Sub-humid climate with a high level of continentality. For the investigated plant communities, the new association Convolvulo elegantissimi-Stipelluletum capensis is described, within the syntaxa Hypochaeridenion achyrophori/Hypochaeridion achyrophori/ Brachypodietalia distachyae/Tuberarietea guttatae. The association is the last regressive stage of the brush-tree vegetation within the climatophilous and thermophilous series of Quercus pubescens s.l. (Roso sempervirentis-Querco vigilianae sigmetum).