Dr Jurgita Butkuvienė from Plant Genetics Laboratory of Vilnius University Life Sciences Center, together with colleagues from VU Botanical Garden Dr Donatas Naužemys and Dr Zofija Sinkevičienė from the Nature Research Centre Flora and Geobotany Laboratory, published a publication in the journal Aquatic Botany where the nature of the species Potamogeton × vilnensis was proven.
Prof Vytautas Galinis discovered this species in 1961 in Mažasis Gulbinas Lake (Vilnius city). In 1963, he published a paper on this unusual species of the genus Potamogeton (V. Galinis). Several New Forms and Hybrids of Potamogeton in the Flora of the Lithuanian SSR. Scientific Works of Higher Schools of the Lithuanian SSR Biol, 3 (1963), pp. 97-108. However, Potamogeton × vilnensis has not been considered a separate species because it has not been properly described and published.
The publication 'Molecular evidence for the origin of the little-known hybrid Potamogeton × vilnensis' provides comparative morphological, anatomical, and molecular analyses. The publication uses old specimens from Prof Vytautas Galinis's VU Herbarium and newly collected material from the same lake (Mažasis Gulbinas). Molecular and morphological methods were used to establish the taxonomic identity of Potamogeton × vilnensis and its differences from similar taxa of the genus Potamogeton. We are very pleased that the species epithet „vilnensis“ has been chosen to commemorate the city of Vilnius and is one of the few organisms with this name.
Read the publication here https://bit.ly/4ejEsIy