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Morphological variation of Gentiana section Chondrophyllae in South America and taxonomic implications

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Abstract

Gentiana species and varieties in the Andes of South America are morphologically weakly differentiated and geographical distribution ranges are not known. Here, we recorded 20 morphological characters for 135 individuals of Gentiana from within and outside South America, and observed four additional characters from a large collection of georeferenced flower photographs. To assess geographical patterns and draw taxonomic consequences, the characters were evaluated individually using box plots and histograms, and together using multivariate ordination plots. Our data support the recognition of two species: one in northern South America, G. sedifolia Kunth, and one in southern South America, G. gayi Griseb., which seem to intergrade in southern Bolivia approximately where wet puna converges into dry puna vegetation. Unusually small individuals of the southern lineage occur in the very South (>45°S). We treat them as G. gayi subsp. magellanica (Kusn.) S.Pfanzelt et K.B.Hagen comb. et stat. nov. We found no support for other previously described species or varieties and if they exist they will be of local distribution only. The respective lectotypifications are made. In our preferred scenario, G. sedifolia and G. gayi have colonized South America independently from the northern hemisphere, although this was not unequivocal and both species are closely related.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sinja Weber for technical assistance, Heidi Meudt for editing the English and comments on an early draft of the manuscript, Uwe Braun for comments on nomenclatural issues, Frances Crawford (K), Vladimir Dorofeyev (LE), M. Carolina García Lino, Barbara Ruthsatz, Karsten Schittek, and Steven P. Sylvester for sending material and photographs, and the curators of B, CONC, F, M, MSB, SGO and WU for access to their collections. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for detailed and constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Str. 9–11, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany

    Simon Pfanzelt & Klaus Bernhard von Hagen

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  1. Simon Pfanzelt
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  2. Klaus Bernhard von Hagen
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Correspondence to Simon Pfanzelt.

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Handling editor: Karol Marhold.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

606_2015_1250_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Online Resource 1 Data sheet with the morphometric measurements of 135 Gentiana individuals. Phytogeographic groups: 1 Páramo, 2 Wet Puna, 3 Dry Puna, 4 Mediterranean Andes, 5 Southern Andes, 6 North America, 7 Asia, 8 Europe. Latitude and longitude are given in degrees (°). See the paragraph on character selection in the Materials and Methods section for explanations regarding the respective characters. NA denotes missing data (PDF 77 kb)

606_2015_1250_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Online Resource 2 Photo sources and herbarium specimen information on which the characters regarding corolla ornamentation are based (in addition to the data of the 135 measured individuals). Merosity can obtain non-integer values in mixed populations. Ornamentation codes are: 0 corolla without spots; 1 transitional pattern, irregular outward extensions of the throat’s yellow/green; 2 corolla with dark spots and/or stripes; 3 two parallel oblong spots on each corolla lobe. Latitude (Lat) and longitude (Long) in degrees (°). NA denotes missing data (PDF 57 kb)

606_2015_1250_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

Online Resource 3 Box plots of all twenty quantitative characters. See the paragraph on character selection in the Materials and Methods section for explanations regarding the respective characters. Colors as in Fig. 4. Phytogeographic groups: 1 Páramo, 2 Wet Puna, 3 Dry Puna, 4 Mediterranean Andes, 5 Southern Andes, 6 North America, 7 Asia, 8 Europe (PDF 62 kb)

606_2015_1250_MOESM4_ESM.pdf

Online Resource 4 Box plots of seventeen quantitative characters illustrating the proportion of within-population variation in relation to overall morphological variation. The characters height, capsule length and carpophore length were omitted due to missing data for the individuals of the population Pfanzelt 252. SAm, all South American specimens (n = 103), WW, Weigend and Weigend 2000-59 (M barcode M-0123728; n = 6), Pf252, Pfanzelt 252 (CONC No. 173311; n = 6) (PDF 305 kb)

606_2015_1250_MOESM5_ESM.pdf

Online Resource 5 Photographs illustrating the patterns of corolla ornamentation in South American Gentiana (see also Fig. 2c and Online Resource 2). a Corolla without spots (Gentiana gayi, Chile, Antofagasta, S. Pfanzelt 453, CONC No. 176048), b Corolla with outward extensions of the throat’s yellow/green (G. sedifolia, Bolivia, La Paz, S. Pfanzelt et al. 990, OLD), c Corolla with dark spots and/or stripes (G. sedifolia, Bolivia, Cochabamba), d Corolla with two parallel oblong spots on each petal lobe (G. sedifolia, Panama, S.D. Knapp and A. Monro 9848, BM000793735). Photographs a-c by S. Pfanzelt, d by A. Monro (downloaded from http://www.tropicos.org/Image/78859, (c) A. Monro, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (PDF 3419 kb)

606_2015_1250_MOESM6_ESM.pdf

Online Resource 6 Data quarter maps. All individuals for which locality data was available were divided into four equal groups according to the respective character score and plotted on a map of South America. Color coding: yellow, individuals with character scores falling below the 25th percentile, i.e., the lowest 25 % of the data; orange: character scores between the 25th percentile and the median; red: character scores between the median and the 75th percentile; dark red: character scores higher than the 75th percentile (PDF 384 kb)

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Pfanzelt, S., von Hagen, K.B. Morphological variation of Gentiana section Chondrophyllae in South America and taxonomic implications. Plant Syst Evol 302, 155–172 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-015-1250-x

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