Abstract
Members of the genus Sesleria are important vegetation elements and are regarded as diagnostic or constant species in many plant communities. However, their identification is often problematic due to their similar morphology and phenotypic plasticity. Although the genus has been studied by many specialists, numerous taxonomic problems remain unresolved. A controversial issue is the alleged presence of S. sadleriana and its hybrid with S. kalnikensis in Slovenia and NW Croatia. To resolve the situation, we used flow cytometry and determined the relative genome size in a large set of Sesleria samples, because this marker proved to be an effective tool in species identification in our previous Sesleria study. A total of 287 individuals from 24 Sesleria populations from NE Italy, Slovenia and NW Croatia were analysed in this study, and the results were compared with our previous dataset comprising 717 samples (representing 57 populations) of Sesleria species collected in other parts of Central Europe (Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania). We have revealed that none of the studied populations from Slovenia or Croatia could be assigned to S. sadleriana or the hybrid S. kalnikensis × S. sadleriana. Of the 24 populations, 5 were identified as octoploid S. juncifolia, 3 as octoploid S. kalnikensis s.s., 11 as octoploid S. kalnikensis s.l., and 5 as an unknown tetraploid populations. The identity of S. kalnikensis s.l. and tetraploid populations requires further studies.
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