IDENTIFICATION OF THE ANCESTRY OF AN AMPHIPLOID VIOLA WITH THE AID OF PAPER CHROMATOGRAPHY

Stebbins , G. L., B. L. Harvey , E. L. Cox , J. N. Rutger , G. Jelencovic , and E. Yagil . (U. California, Davis.) Identification of the ancestry of an amphiploid Viola with the aid of paper chromatography. Amer. Jour. Bot. 50 (8): 830–839. Illus. 1963.—Comparison of chromatograms obtained from extracts of dried leaves of various entities of the Viola purpurea complex as well as of V. pedunculata revealed the following. In respect to unidentified compounds differentially soluble in a mixture of tertiary butanol and acetic acid, with 15% acetic acid as a second solvent, the constitution of the tetraploid species V. quercetorum could be obtained by combining those of the diploid entities V. purpurea purpurea and V. aurea mohavensis. In respect to certain morphological characteristics, chiefly leaf shape and pubescence, beard hairs on lateral petals, anther appendages, and shape and hairs on styles and stigmas, V. quercetorum is intermediate between V. p. purpurea and V. a. mohavenis. The geographic distribution of V. quercetorum is likewise intermediate between those of the other 2 entities. Consequently, the origin of V. quercetorum by amphiploidy from hybrids between V. purpurea purpurea and V. aurea mohavensis is supported by 3 different lines of evidence. A possible place and time for this origin are the central Coast Ranges of California during the Pleistocene pluvial epoch. In both morphological characteristics and the chemical compounds revealed by the chromatograms, V. pedunculata subspp. pedunculata and tenuifolia show similarities and differences from members of the V. purpurea complex which are of a different nature than are the similarities and differences between the various entities of the latter complex. Consequently, the relationships between V. purpurea and V. pedunculata are probably not associated with or complicated by recent introgression or amphiploidy, and the 2 species may be rather distantly related to each other.