Cytotaxonomy of autumnal flowering species of Hyacinthaceae from Algeria

Abstract

International audienceCytotaxonomic investigations of the autumnflowering squills, Prospero autumnale (L.) Speta : Scilla autumnalis L., Prospero obtusifolium (Poir.) Speta :Scilla obtusifolia Poir., Barnardia numidica (Poir.) Speta : Scilla numidica Poir., and Hyacinthoides lingulata (Poir.) Rothm. : Scilla lingulata Poir. were performed in 20 populations from northern Algeria located between Tipasa and La Vieille Calle. Various chromosome numbers were found, including a new cytotype, 2n = 8, for the flora of Algeria, concerning plants identified as Prospero obtusifolium (Poir.) Speta [including P. fallax (Steinh.) Speta = S. autumnalis L. ssp. fallax (Steinh.) Batt.]. The numbers 2n = 14, 28, and 42 correspond, respectively, to diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid levels of P. autumnale s.l. [including P. pulchellum (Munby) Speta : Scilla pulchella Munby = S. autumnalis var. pulchella (Munby) Batt.], with x = 7. The cytotypes of Barnardia numidica (Poir.) Speta with 2n = 18 and Hyacinthoides lingulata (Poir.) Rothm. with 2n = 16 chromosomes were confirmed

Comparative morphological and cytogenetic study of five Asparagus (Asparagaceae) species from Algeria including the endemic A. altissimus Munby

“…In Algeria, for both A. acutifolius and A. officinalis, we found only 2x cytotypes. The predominance of diploid compared to tetraploid cytotypes have been previously established for some Algerian species belonging to the families Alliaceae and Hyacinthaceae (Hamouche et al, 2010;Azizi et al, 2016;Khedim et al, 2016).…”

Chromosomal diversification and karyotype evolution of diploids in the cytologically diverse genus Prospero(Hyacinthaceae)

“…Dysploidy has occurred twice via independent fusions, once perhaps ancestral from x  = 7 to x  = 6, and later a second time from x  = 7 to x  = 5. This extensive chromosomal evolution contrasts very strongly with a lack of morphological diagnostic features within the genus, which are particularly weak within the P. autumnale complex [29,33,54]. New species described in last few decades usually refer to small populations that differ mostly in quantitative characters, whose evolutionary significance needs to be evaluated using a more thorough sampling.…”

New cytological, morphological, and chorological data on Prospero seisumsianum (Rukšans & Zetterl.) Yıldırım (Asparagaceae) from the Zagros area

“…From an evolutionary standpoint, the Prospero species provide an excellent model system to study the trend of the diversification: this group of taxa exhibits (i) a particular pattern of polyploidy with important dysploidy (cf. Rothmaler, 1944;Speta, 1998;Hamouche et al, 2010); (ii) a contradictory geographical distribution pattern (often restricted endemic taxa while others have wide range areas); (iii) subtle morphological variations that need thorough observations (e.g., in cultivation); (iv) a specialization on hysteranthous autumn-flowering with one exception (P. cudidaghense Fırat and Yıldırım) and one derivative strategy (P. seisumsianum), both recently discovered (Rukšans, 2007;Yıldırım, 2014;Fırat and Yıldırım, 2016). Furthermore, the evolution of Prospero, especially in the P. autumnale complex, has been driven by differentiation of an ancestral karyotype largely accompanied by discrete involvements of morphological changes (Jang et al, 2013;Emadzade et al, 2014).…”