Morphometric and RAPD study of theMelampyrum sylvaticum group in the Sudeten, the Alps and Carpathians

Abstract

TheMelampyrum sylvaticum group is a heterogeneous group at the inter- and infra-specific level. A wide range of morphological characters was examined on specimens collected for this study. The corolla size, the corolla colour and the anther length are considered the most important morphological characters at the interspecific taxonomic level. The morphological and molecular variation of theMelampyrum sylvaticum group in the Sudeten, Alps and Carpathians was analyzed. The morphometric study of European populations ofMelampyrum sylvaticum group partly clarified the pattern of the variation of selected characters in this region. The RAPD analysis manifests a very similar trend of the population grouping. The combined analysis of morphological and molecular data gives the most explicit results. Central European yellow flowering populations ofM. sylvaticum group form two distinctive groups. The first one is an exclusive type of the Alps and of the Hercynian Mountains (except the Sudeten). The second group has its centre of distribution in the eastern part of the Carpathians. This type was described asMelampyrum herbichii from the present Ukrainian Carpathians and was regarded to be endemic to the Eastern and Southern Carpathians. Populations from the Western Carpathians and Sudeten Mts. are polymorphic. They seem to be closer toM. herbichii based on the RAPD markers, whereas the morphology of most populations from these regions is closer toM. sylvaticum s.str. The bract shape seems to be important for discrimination between both groups of populations along with the flower characters and a modest ecological differentiation. The Eastern CarpathianMelampyrum saxosum with white corolla is very close toM. herbichii based on the studied morphological characters.