Character Variation and a Cladistic Analysis of the Genus Lachenalia Jacq. F. Ex Murray (Hyacinthaceae)

Chromosome morphology of 12 species and one variety of Lachenalia and five species of closely related, allied genera (Liliaceae)

“…However, a few taxa have reported karyotypes; e.g., 12 species of the genus were grouped by their karyotypes using microtome sectioning by Moffett (1936); correlationship between variation in chromosome number and presence of B-chromosomes was studied by Francis and Liebenberg (1990); 25 species and three varieties of the genus were classified into eight groups by their karyotypes (Hamatani et al 1998(Hamatani et al , 2004. Those results were not consistent with the cladistic analysis by Duncan et al (2005), which uses detailed data on variations in the characteristics of flowers and other organs. Moreover, it is hoped that the chromosomes of more species can be studied to validate the result of the cladistic analysis.…”

“…The genus is endemic to the west of southern Africa and consists of approximately 115 species (Duncan 1998). Cladistic analysis uses detailed data on variations in the characteristics of flowers and other organs (Duncan 1988;Duncan et al 2005).…”

788. Lachenalia Bulbifera

“…The species is readily identified by its light to dark orange, red, vermillion or rarely yellow outer tepals that are almost as long as, or slightly longer than, the inner tepals, with green or brown apical gibbosities, overlapping inner tepals with dark magenta or purple zones in the uppermost part, with green, dark magenta or purple apical gibbosities, included, straight stamens, and one or two slightly to deeply canaliculate, lanceolate or ovate leaves with plain or heavily purple‐ or green‐maculate upper surfaces. It is closely related to L. punctata which shares tubular, pendulous to cernuous flowers with long perianth tubes, oblong outer tepals, oblong obovate inner tepals and globose seeds with inflated strophioles (Duncan et al ., ). The latter species is almost always a smaller plant with pink, pink‐mottled or rarely yellow perianths borne on shorter pedicels (1–4 mm long).…”

“…It forms a polyploid complex with a basic chromosome number of x = 7, with ploidy levels ranging from diploid to octoploid and chromosome numbers of 2n = 14, 28, 42, 49 and 56; ploidy levels are constant within populations (Kleynhans & Spies, ). Although chromosomal divergence has taken place in this species, morphological expression of these changes is still in progress, producing variations to which it is not yet possible to assign taxonomic rank (Duncan, ). Collectively, L. bulbifera has the longest flowering period of all the Lachenalia species, beginning in late April in a short‐flowered, orange form from Stilbaai, and ending in early September in a longer‐flowered, pinkish‐red form from Bredasdorp, both in the southern Cape; the longest‐flowered forms (up to 37 mm) occur along the Cape west coast and on the Cape Flats east of Cape Town.…”

The Genus Lachenalia. Botanical Magazine Monograph by Graham Duncan. Richmond: Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2012. 650 pp, 300+ photos, 135 maps. Hardback. ISBN: 9781842463826. £120.

“…The morphological study provided the basis for the author's cladistic analysis of the genus. This is covered in a relatively brief chapter on phylogeny which refers to an earlier publication, where the phylogenetic trees were published (Duncan et al ., ). While there was no molecular component of the phylogenetic analysis, the author draws attention to the sequencing work by Spies () and acknowledges that further work is needed to clarify some of the poor resolution in the trees.…”