A revision of the syntaxonomy of the Apennine-Balkan Quercus cerris and Q. frainetto forests and correct application of the name Melittio-Quercion frainetto

Melittio-Quercion frainettoand Melittio-Quercion confertaeare two alliances, which were proposed about simultaneously 40 years ago through two different papers regarding southern Italy and southern Greece,respectively. The aims of thispaper are to establish valid name, nomenclatural type and distribution rangeof thesetwo alliancesand to verify whether theydisplay a sufficient degree of syntaxonomic autonomy when compared to the ecologically and geographically neighbouring alliances. Adata matrix composed of 43 frequency columns summing 1242phytosociological relevésx 625 taxa was prepared and statistically analysed. The resultssuggested that the thermophilous Quercus cerrisand Q. frainettooak woods of the southern Apennines and the southern Balkans deserve to be classified in two separated alliances.The application of the principle IV of ICPN established that the correct name of the allianceis Melittio albidae-Quercion frainettoBarbéro, Bonin, Gamisans etQuézelin Bonin etGamisans 1976 and that it was typified insouthern Italy. Accordingly, the new name Geranio asphodeloidis-Quercion frainettoishere proposed for southern Greece in substitution of Melittio-Quercion confertae(nom.illeg.). The syntaxonomic proposal advanced in this paper brings significantmodificationsin the current version of the checklist of the European syntaxa (Eurovegchecklist).