Abstract
The ploidy level of plants of theVaccinium sect.Oxycoccus (Hill)W.D.J. Koch sampled in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Poland was determined by chromosome counting and/or by flow cytometry. Forty-five characters were measured and scored in the morphometric analysis. Principal component analysis, cluster analysis, canonical discriminant analysis and classificatory discriminant analysis were used in the statistical analyses. Diploid (2n=24), tetraploid (2n=48) and hexaploid (2n=72) populations were confirmed and a new ploidy level — pentaploid hybrid plants (2n=60) — was revealed. Results of the multivariate morphometric analysis support the separation of the two native species. DiploidV. microcarpum (Turcz. exRupr.)Schmalh. differs from the polyploids by smaller size of petals, shorter style and stamens (stamens have long filaments and short anthers), glabrous pedicels, mostly solitary flowers, earlier flowering and by occurrence predominantly inPolytrichum strictum tufts. The low taxonomic significance of some features often used in keys for their separation (shape of fruits, insertion of prophylla, pubescence of filaments) was confirmed.V. oxycoccos L. includes three ploidy levels. The hexaploids represent the most abundant ploidy level in the area studied. They show a slightly bigger size of petals, longer bracts, prophylla, style, sepal tips and wider seeds in comparison with the tetraploids. Pentaploid cranberries are hitherto known only from the Czech Republic. They differ particularly in the low proportion of fully-developed tetrads.
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