The phloroglucides of the ferns of the Dryopteris filix‐mas complex; i.e. D. abbreviata, D. filix‐mas s. str. and D. borreri (diploid and triploid) as well as those of D. villarii, subspvillarii and subsp. pallida were reinvestigated with improved semiquantitative analytical methods. The phloroglucides of D. aitoniana and D. athamantica were examined for the first time.
The results (table 1) are compatible with the hypothesis, without proving it, that the allotetraploid species D. filix‐mas s. str. originated from a hybrid of D. abbreviata with D. villard (with subsequent doubling of its chromosomes) and the apogamous triploid D. remota from D. assimils with diploid D. borreri, and the equally apogamous triploid D. borreri from a hybrid of D. abbreviata (or a related diploid sexual taxon) with diploid D. borreri.
D. aitoniana contains a large amount of trisflavaspidic acid but no filixic acid and differs in this respect from the three representatives of the D. filix‐mas complex.
A chromatographic analysis of the phloroglucinol derivatives of 123 collections of Dryopteris intermedia Gray (2x), D. assimilis S. Walker (2x) from western North America, D. "dilatata" from eastern North America (2x), D. "austriaca" from Japan and Kamchatka, "Aspidium dilatatum" from Siberia, D. campyloptera Clarkson (4x) from eastern North America, D. spinulosa Watt (4x) from North America, the hybrids D. "dilatata" × campyloptera (3x) and D. intermedia × spinulosa (3x) is presented. D. "dilatata" from eastern North America has an extremely variable phloroglucinol content, which limits the utility of the analysis for taxonomy. The chromatographic and cytological results are discussed in connection with the evolution of the two tetraploid taxa, D. campyloptera and D. spinulosa. The intra-specific variability of each taxon is discussed and compared with the extensive European studies. The material investigated may be considered to belong to the following species: D. intermedia Gray (2x), D. assimilis S. Walker (2x), D. campyloptera Clarkson (4x), and D. spinulosa Watt (4x). Only two different ancestral genomes are considered to be present in these four species, one in the first three species, and two in D. spinulosa.
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