Chromosome numbers of selected species of Elatine L. (Elatinaceae)

Abstract

The paper reports chromosome numbers for 13 taxa of Elatine L., including all 11 species occurring in Europe, namely E. alsinastrum, E. ambigua, E. brachysperma, E. brochonii, E. californica, E. campylosperma, E. gussonei, E. hexandra, E. hungarica, E. hydropiper, E. macropoda, E. orthosperma, E. triandra originating from 17, field-collected populations. For seven of them (E. ambigua, E. californica, E. campylosperma, E. brachysperma, E. brochonii, E. hungarica, E. orthosperma) the chromosome numbers are reported for the first time. With these records, chromosome numbers for the whole section Elatinella Seub. became available. Although 2n = 36 was reported to be the most common and the lowest chromosome number in the genus, our data show that out of thirteen species analyzed, six had 36 chromosomes but five species had 54 chromosomes, and the lowest number of chromosomes was 18. These data further corroborates that the basic chromosome number in Elatine is x = 9.

Resurrection and typification ofElatine campylosperma(Elatinaceae), a long-forgotten waterwort species

“…is generally reduced into the synonymy of E. macropoda ( Uotila, 2009b ; see further literature below). Nevertheless, corroborated by the results of Molnár et al (2015) and Kalinka et al (2015) , Sramkó et al (2016) accepted the full species status of E. campylosperma .…”

Seed morphometric characteristics of European species of Elatine (Elatinaceae)

“…Elatine gussonei , an enigmatic plant of the Mediterranean, was first described as a variety of E. hydropiper and was later classified as a separate species (Brullo et al, 1988; Misfud, 2006; Molnár et al, 2013; Molnár, Popiela & Lukács, 2013). Elatine campylosperma was described by Seubert (1845) from Sardinia, and later greatly neglected by most researchers by synonymizing this species under E. macropoda ; at present, it is considered a separate species (Kalinka et al, 2015). Elatine hungarica was last collected in 1960 and rediscovered in Hungary in 1998 (Molnár et al, 1999); for years its taxonomic status was under discussion (Molnár et al, 2013).…”

“…Recently, Elatine species have been of interest to researchers because of their rarity throughout their range, relatively poorly known distribution and taxonomy, ecology, karyology and phylogenetic relationships (e.g.,  Popiela, 2005; Misfud, 2006; Uotila, 2009a; Uotila, 2010; Popiela & Łysko, 2010; Popiela & Łysko, 2011; Popiela et al, 2011; Popiela et al, 2012; Popiela, Łysko & Molnár, 2013; Popiela et al, 2015; Takács, 2013; Molnár et al, 2013; Molnár, Popiela & Lukács, 2013; Šumberova & Hrivnak, 2013; Kalinka et al, 2014; Kalinka et al, 2015; Cai et al, 2016; Sramkó et al, 2016). The above-mentioned authors emphasized that the erratic temporal appearance of Elatine species depends mainly on environmental factors; for example, plants develop as aquatic or terrestrial forms, and, moreover, they are morphologically variable depending on the phase of drying on the ground.…”

The account of Elatine ambigua Wight, E. triandra Schkuhr and E. hungarica Moesz collected in Vojvodina (Serbia)

“…Seeds are numerous, centrally attached, elliptic-oblong, slightly curved or almost straight, c. 0.5 mm long, yellowish-brown, regularly longitudinally hexagonally alveolate on the surface. 2n=54 (Kalinka et al 2015). Flowering time: VII-VIII.…”

“…Asian species is naturally distributed across the Indian subcontinent, the Himalayas, Indochinese Peninsula and China, with disjunctions in Western Siberia, Korea, Japan, Fiji (Moesz 1908, Gorshkova 1949, Walters 1968, Yang & Tucker 2007, Kalinka et al 2015. It was first described as coming from India ["I have only found it in the moist soil of half dried tanks in the Tanjore district, where it forms large green patches"] (Wight 1831(Wight , 1840.…”