A new hexaploid species of Centaurea section Acrolophus (Asteraceae) from Evvia Island,Greece |
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| Authors: | P. TRIGAS TH. CONSTANTINIDIS T. TOULOUMENIDOU |
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| Affiliation: | 1. National Agricultural Research Foundation (N.AG.RE.F.), Forest Research Institute, Terma Alkmanos str., Ilisia, GR – 115 28 Athens, Greece;2. Laboratory of Systematic Botany, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, GR – 118 55 Athens, Greece;3. Laboratory of Plant Breeding and Biometry, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, GR – 118 55 Athens, Greece |
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| Abstract: | Centaurea carystea Trigas & Constantin., a new yellow‐flowered species of Centaurea from Mt. Ochi on Evvia Island (Greece), is described and illustrated. It is a member of the polymorphic C. section Acrolophus and allied to taxa of the C. attica aggregate, C. pelia and C. mantoudii. The new species appears to be a local and threatened endemic, with the total number of individuals known being less than 500. A karyological examination revealed that it is hexaploid, with 2n = 6x = 54, an unusual number in Centaurea, which may indicate a hybrid origin. To further clarify the taxonomic position of C. carystea , we used random amplification of polymorphic DNA markers of 25 plants belonging to nine species, subspecies and varieties morphologically related to the new species, together with two reference taxa. Clustering using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean indicated a discrete position for C. carystea , close to but distinct from the yellow‐flowered C. mantoudii. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 158 , 762–774. |
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| Keywords: | chromosome number compositae conservation endemic species Flora Hellenica morphology RAPD taxonomy |
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