As part of a biosystematic revision scheme involving certain groups of Italian monocotyledons the genusMuscariMiller was examined independetly from other genera close to it,LeopoldiaParl.,MuscarimiaKostel. andPseudomuscariGarbari & Greuter. It is represented in Italy by 7 species:Muscari botryoides(L.) Miller (2n= 36),M. kerneriMarchesetti (2n= 18),M. atlanticumBoiss. et Reuter (2n= 36, 45, 54, 63, 72),M. neglectumGuss. (2n= 36, 45, 54, 63),M. commutatumGuss. (2n= 18),M. lafarinae(Lojac.) Garbari (2n= 18) andM. parviflorumDesf. (2n= 36, 45). An investigation of infraspecific variability has enabled the identification of some southern Italian Apenninic populations such asM. atlanticumBoiss. et Reuter subsp.alpinum(Fiori) Garbari (2n= 36); a race from the Adriatic island of Pelagosa asM. neglectumGuss, subsp.speciosum(Marchesetti) Garbari; an entity distributed in the central and western Italian lowlands asM. botryoides(L.) Miller subsp.lelievrii(Boreau) Garbari (2n= 36). The various ploidy levels were then discussed as well the high adaptive capacity of certain entities from theM.sect.Muscariin comparision with the genomic stability of theM.sect.Concoloria, which is always found documented as diploid and which is not so adaptable.