On the Leucanthemopsis alpina (L.) Heywood growing in the Illyrian region

Abstract

Leucanthemopsis alpina (L.) Heywood (Asteraceae, Anthemideae) is a small, caespitose plant growing in high alpine environments in all the main southern European mountain ranges. However, the species status in the Balkan Peninsula (and especially in the Dinaric Alps) is not very well known. Surrounding this area, different L. alpina subspecies are found in the Eastern Alps and in the Carpathians. These subspecies differ from one another, both morphologically and in chromosome number. The present study aims to better characterise the populations of L. alpina in the Illyrian and Balkan regions by undertaking a comprehensive survey of herbarium collections for the species in this area, by applying flow cytometry for ploidy determination and by sequencing of two chloroplast markers. Results from our investigation suggest that the only population of the species in the Dinaric Alps is found in the Vranica Mts (Bosnia and Herzegovina). This population consists of diploid plants (unlike tetraploid populations from the Eastern Alps) that are slightly distinct genetically from those of the subspecies growing in the Eastern Alps and the Tatra Mts. Both the ploidy and their genetic distinction indicate that Vranica Mts most probably served as a refugium for the species during the Pleistocene glaciations. Considering its isolated geographical range and its genetic distinction, the population of L. alpina growing in the Vranica Mts should be considered as a separate subspecies.

Reticulate Evolution in the Western Mediterranean Mountain Ranges: The Case of the Leucanthemopsis Polyploid Complex

“…This species is a polymorphic complex including diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid populations. Whereas diploids are scattered in the western Alps, Corsica, the Dolomites, the western and the southern Carpathians, and the Dinaric Alps, the tetraploids are widespread across the distribution range of the whole species and the hexaploids are limited to the Central Pyrenees (Tomasello and Oberprieler, 2017;Tomasello and Konowalik, 2020). As amply elucidated by Tomasello and Oberprieler (2017), the polyploid members have been formed recursively and independently in different places of the species range.…”