Molecular phylogeny, morphology and taxonomic re‐circumscription of the generic complex Nonea / Elizaldia / Pulmonaria / Paraskevia (Boraginaceae‐Boragineae)

We performed a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the generic complex Nonea/Elizaldia/Paraskevia/Pulmonaria (Boraginaceae‐Boragineae), using trn L UAA and ITS1 sequences from non‐coding plastid and nuclear DNA, respectively. In the strict consensus of most parsimonious trees from combined ITS1/ trnL sequences the ingroup forms a monophyletic group with two sister clades of Nonea/Elizaldia and Paraskevia/Pulmonaria . The eastern Mediterranean Nonea obtusifolia is sister to the rest of the ingroup and more distant to Nonea taxa than to those of Pulmonaria . Elizaldia is firmly nested in Nonea and forms a clade that includes the southern Mediterranean species N. vesicaria . Nonea as currently circumscribed is therefore paraphyletic. The molecular results are congruent with morphological, karyological and chorological features and suggest a redefinition of Nonea s .l. based on monophyletic groups. We propose: (i) the institution of the new monotypic genus Melanortocarya gen. nov . for N . obtusifolia , (ii) the inclusion of Elizaldia within Nonea , and (iii) the transfer of Paraskevia ( Nonea ) cesatiana to Pulmonaria . Nonea embergeri , previously treated at the infraspecific level, is recognized at species rank and E. calycina subsp. multicolor is placed in synonymy of N. calycina .