TY - JOUR T1 - Juncus dichotomus (Juncaceae) in northwestern Italy, a xenophyte new to Europe JF - Willdenowia Y1 - 2010 DO - doi:10.3372/wi.40.40202 A1 - Filip Verloove SP - 173 EP - 177 AB - Juncus dichotomus, a native of the Americas, is reported for the first time from Europe. It is more or less widely naturalised in northwestern Italy (provinces of Biella, Novara, Torino and Vercelli) and probably largely overlooked elsewhere as a result of confusion with J. tenuis. Diagnostic features of both species (and other members of the J. tenuis group currently found in Europe, viz. J. anthelatus and J. dudleyi) are critically assessed and an identification key is presented. Taxonomy and nomenclature of J. dichotomus are discussed, especially with regard to the status of J. platyphyllus, and notes on its present distribution in Italy and its ecology are provided. Like J. tenuis, it often grows in valuable natural and seminatural habitats and locally seems to behave like an invasive environmental weed. VL - 40 JO - Juncus dichotomus new to Europe ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Journal Management of Biological Invasions JF - Journal Management of Biological Invasions Y1 - 2010 A1 - Filip Verloove SP - 1 EP - 5 KW - alien species KW - Digitaria violascens KW - Eleocharis pellucida KW - Juncus dichotomus KW - taxonomy KW - Vicia dalmatica AB - Misidentifications are an important but neglected problem in studies on plant invasions. This review shows how taxonomic education of staff and stakeholders is of great importance for correctly assessing threats provoked by alien plant species in field and literature based studies. Four randomly chosen recent examples (Digitaria violascens, Eleocharis pellucida, Juncus dichotomus and Vicia dalmatica) from Europe demonstrate that, as a result of an initial erroneous identification and/or confusion with similar harmless species, potentially noxious environmental weeds have been able to become fully naturalised. They act as “invaders in disguise” and therefore constitute a real problem for conservation management. VL - 1 UR - http://www.managementofbiologicalinvasions.net/index_file/Verloove2010.pdf ER -