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In Italy, woods dominated byQuercus petraeaare well documented within local and regional phytosociological studies but a critical revision of their principal ecological-floristic components based on a comprehensive Italian data set was missing. We gathered 209 published and unpublished Italian phytosociological relevés, whereQ. petraeawas dominant, that were investigated by means of multivariate analysis. The ecological requirements of the resulting groups were indirectly calculated by means of Ellenberg indicator value, and a chorological analysis was performed. The fidelity coefficient (phi) for the diagnostic species of each group was calculated. According to our analysis, five different types ofQ. petraeawoods were found to be present in Italy. Each group was characterized by means of its floristic, ecological and chorological components. These resulting five groups were further compared with similarQ. petraea-dominated woods recorded in other European locations, as to the floristic and chorological components. We collected 57 synoptic tables ofQ. petraeacommunities coming from all over Europe. This data set, together with the Italian relevés, was submitted to exploratory multivariate analysis using also the chorological information. According to these analyses, the Italian woods dominated byQ. petraeacan be subdivided in two main clusters: the communities belonging to It-1 group (Alps) fell within the central European communities, distinguished by the predominance of large distribution and European chorotypes. All the other Italian groups of relevés resulted to be positioned in the cluster which includes central southern, central eastern and eastern EuropeanQ. petraeacommunities. From the syntaxonomical point of view, the results of this analysis allow to attribute the ItalianQ. petraeawoods to seven alliances of three different orders. The ecological similarities betweenErythronio-Quercion petraeaeandErythronio-Carpinion betuliare highlighted and the distribution ofErythronio-Quercion petraeaeis limited to northern Apennines, in particular, to slopes facing the Po Valley. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

“The New Red List of the Italian Flora” includes all the Italian policy species and other species of known conservation concerns for a total of 400taxa, 65% of which are threatened with extinction. The Red List is based on a huge georeferenced data-set useful for conservation purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]