morphological study of species boundaries of the wild potato Solanum brevicaule complex: replicated field trials in Peru

• Published in: Plant systematics and evolution Vol. 274; no. 1-2; pp. 37 - 45
• Main Authors: Alvarez, N. M. B, Peralta, I. E, Salas, A, Spooner, D. M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Vienna : Springer Vienna 01.08.2008; Springer-Verlag; Springer Vienna; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biological taxonomies; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Boundaries; Corolla; Datasets; Diploids; Diploidy; Discriminant analysis; Germplasm; Life Sciences; Morphology; Original Article; Plant Anatomy/Development; Plant Ecology; Plant morphology; Plant Sciences; Plant Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Plants; Potatoes; Solanum; Species; Taxa; Peru; Replicated field trials; Phenetics; sect; complex
• ISSN: 0378-2697; 1615-6110; 2199-6881
• DOI: 10.1007/s00606-008-0023-1

The Solanum brevicaule complex contains about 20 species of diploids (2n = 2x = 24), tetraploids (2n = 4x = 48) and hexaploids (2n = 6x = 72), distributed from central Peru south to northwestern Argentina. The complex is defined entirely by morphological similarity of its constituent members, which are very similar to each other and to some landraces of the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum. Conflicting taxonomic treatments are common among authors. Species boundaries within the complex have been studied with morphological phenetics from germplasm accessions planted in a field plot in the north central US, and with molecular marker data from RAPDs, low-copy nuclear RFLPs, and AFLPs. The present study compares these results with an additional replicated morphological study of the same germplasm accessions in a greenhouse environment in the high Andes of central Peru. The results support extensive reduction of species in the complex.