Abstract
A multivariate statistical analysis was carried out to evaluate the morphological variation between Nymphaea pubescens Willd., and a deep purplish red flowered Nymphaea that occur in Sri Lanka. The plant resembles N. rubra Roxb. ex Andrews, a species that had been sometimes circumscribed as a variety under N. pubescens Willd. DNA sequences data of matK and psbA-trnH regions were used to obtain further support. Morphological data were scored from collected samples and analyzed using PAST software. Extracted DNA were amplified for matK and psbA-trnH gene regions. Obtained sequences were matched with the related accessions deposited in the GenBank. Multivariate analysis supported the recognition of deep purplish red flowered Nymphaea as a different species from N. pubescens, and was identified as N. rubra based on literature. GenBank accessions for the matK region of N. rubra showed 99% similarity while it gave only a 96% similarity for N. pubescens with query coverage of 97% and 96% respectively, corroborating with the morphological analysis. Comparison of the sequence divergence between N. pubescens and N. rubra sequences indicated a 95% similarity for matK gene region while 92% similarity for psbA-trnH gene region. The sequences generated during the present study would provide additional reference sequences for the two taxa.Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 23(2): 107-117, 2016 (December)
Highlights
The genus Nymphaea L. (Nymphaeaceae Salisb.) or Water-lilies comprise of about 40-50 species and is widespread in tropical and temperate regions covering vast extents of natural waterbodies
A multivariate statistical analysis was carried out to evaluate the morphological variation between the ambiguous taxa and described N. pubescens, and further DNA sequences data of matK and psbA-trnH regions were used in verification of the identity between N. pubescens and the deep purplish red flowered Nymphaea species occurring in Sri Lanka
The obtained sequence length of the matK and psbA-trnH gene regions were between 916-917 bp and 541-555 bp for deep purplish red flowered Nymphaea and N. pubescens respectively
Summary
The genus Nymphaea L. (Nymphaeaceae Salisb.) or Water-lilies comprise of about 40-50 species and is widespread in tropical and temperate regions covering vast extents of natural waterbodies. A multivariate statistical analysis was carried out to evaluate the morphological variation between the ambiguous taxa and described N. pubescens, and further DNA sequences data of matK and psbA-trnH regions were used in verification of the identity between N. pubescens and the deep purplish red flowered Nymphaea species occurring in Sri Lanka.
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