A phylogenetic analysis of the wild Tulipa species (Liliaceae) of Kosovo based on plastid and nuclear DNA sequence

Avni Hajdari,Corinna Schmiderer,Brett Wilson,Kimete Lluga‐Rizani,Behxhet Mustafa,Bledar Pulaj,Xhavit Mala

doi:10.1002/ggn2.202100016

Abstract

In Kosovo, the genus Tulipa is represented by eight taxa, most of which form a species complex surrounding Tulipa scardica. To investigate the phylogenetic relationship of these Tulipa species a Bayesian analysis was undertaken using the ITS nuclear marker and trnL-trnF, rbcL and psbA-trnH plastid markers. The resulting phylogenetic trees show that Kosovarian Tulipa species consistently group into two main clades, the subgenera Eriostemones and Tulipa. Furthermore, our analyses provide some evidence that the subspecies of Tulipa sylvestris are genetically distinguishable, however not significantly enough to support their reclassification as species. In contrast, the markers provide some novel information to reassess the species concepts of the T. scardica complex. Our data provide support for the synonymisation of Tulipa luanica and Tulipa kosovarica under the species Tulipa serbica. Resolution and sampling limitations hinder any concrete conclusion about whether Tulipa albanica and T. scardica are true species, yet our data do provide some support that these are unique taxa and therefore should continue to be treated as such until further clarification. Overall, our work shows that genetic data will be important in determining species concepts in this genus, however, even with a molecular perspective pulling apart closely related taxa can be extremely challenging.

Highlights

Species of the genus Tulipa L. (Liliaceae) have great economic, horticultural, and ecological value[1] while being culturally significant in many areas of the world.[2]
Our most informative tree provides evidence that the scardica complex has been over split and that T. luanica and T. kosovarica should be synonymised under T. serbica
Our phylogenetic analyses show that Kosovarian tulips can be distinguished as either in the subgenera Eriostemones or Tulipa

Summary

Introduction

Species of the genus Tulipa L. (Liliaceae) have great economic, horticultural, and ecological value[1] while being culturally significant in many areas of the world.[2]. (Liliaceae) have great economic, horticultural, and ecological value[1] while being culturally significant in many areas of the world.[2] They are bulbous monocots characterized by a diverse range of variable vegetative and floral traits, which were traditionally used to define species concepts in this genus. The vegetative and floral traits often show a high degree of plasticity, sometimes, even within populations of a species.[2,3,4] Due to this and the long horticultural history of tulips, creating a stable taxonomic framework for the genus has been extremely difficult, despite the existence of a large body of literature,[3,4,5,6] and so classifications of Tulipa have been revised several times,[7] The total number of extant. According to the most complete evaluation of the genus to date,[2] only 76 species are accepted, but since this work, a number of new species have been described.[11,12,13,14] The

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