Abstract
Erigeron strigosus is widespread in North America and has heretofore been considered to be uniformly apomictic. The recent description of new varieties of E. strigosus in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee on dolomitic and calcareous glades (E. strigosus var. dolomiticola and E. strigosus var. calcicola) and the discovery of a third, yet unnamed taxon on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States (E. strigosus var. nov.) prompted this investigation of their cytology and reproductive attributes. Here, we report that all three varieties are diploid (2n=18) and sexual, with tetrasporic female gametophyte development. In addition, B‐chromosomes were observed in three instances in E. strigosus var. nov. On average, pollen of sexual E. strigosus is uniformly small (average 14.9 μm diameter) and of high quality (84.2% viability), although low pollen viability was observed in eight of 36 plants, and exceptionally large, putatively unreduced grains were observed in low frequency in two plants.
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