ACACIA CONSTRICTA (FABACEAE: MIMOSOIDEAE) AND RELATED SPECIES FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN U.S. AND MEXICO

Vegetative, fruit, and floral characters of more than 200 herbarium specimens of Acacia constricta and closely related species from the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico were scored and analyzed by principal components analysis (PCA) and stepwise discriminant analysis (SDA). The results show that all of the 5 species of this group are distinct and form nonoverlapping groups in plots of the first three principal components. All taxa were found to be quite homogeneous as indicated by the tight clusters formed in the PCA plots. Acacia pacensis, whose relationship to the species of this group has been questioned, is confirmed to be more closely related to A. farnesiana and related species. Some specimens with a combination of characters from A. constricta, A. neovernicosa, and A. schottii were positioned intermediate to the putative parental species groups in the PCA and SDA plots, suggesting hybridization among these taxa.