Genome size and morphology of the Dryopteris affinis group in Central Europe.

Libor Ekrt 1 , Pavel Trávníček 3 2 , Vlasta Jarolímová 2 , Petr Vít 2 3 & Tomáš Urfus 2 3

Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, CZ-370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
  2. Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Zámek 1, CZ-252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic
  3. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Benátská 2, CZ-128 01 Prague, Czech Republic
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Abstract

The agamosporous and taxonomically critical Dryopteris affinis group was investigated as part of a cytogeographic and morphometric study of ferns in Central Europe. Material from 27 localities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Austria was sampled and evaluated using both morphometric multivariate and karyological analyses. Chromosome counts and flow cytometric analyses revealed the existence of two distinct triploid taxa (2n = 123) of differing genome size, which correspond to D. borreri and D. cambrensis, and of a rare pentaploid hybrid (2n = 205) D. ×critica (D. borreri × D. filix-mas). Morphometric analyses confirmed a clear separation between both triploid taxa. New quantitative characters were selected based on a discriminant analyses, and a key for the identification of the species is presented.

Keywords

Central Europe, chromosome number, cytotype, DNA ploidy level, Dryopteridaceae, ferns, flow cytometry, multivariate morphometrics, polyploidy

How to cite

Ekrt L., Trávníček P., Jarolímová V., Vít P. & Urfus T. (2009) Genome size and morphology of the Dryopteris affinis group in Central Europe. – Preslia 81: 261–280