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Morphological and ITS sequence divergence between taxa of Cuminia (Lamiaceae), an endemic genus of the Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile

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Abstract

Morphological and ITS sequence divergence were assessed between the two presently recognized taxa of the endemic genusCuminia (Lamiaceae), on Masatierra of the Juan Fernandez Islands. Morphological studies were based on leaf morphology of 51 individuals. Individuals ofC. fernandezia have narrow and lanceolate leaves with cuneate to acute bases and apices, whereas individuals ofC. eriantha have broadly ovate leaves with rounded bases and acute to obtuse apices. The two taxa can also be distinguished by the presence of pubescence.Cuminia eriantha has hairs on the leaves, young stems, floral peduncles, calyx, and corolla. Alternatively,C. fernandezia is glabrous except for tuft hairs on the nodes, and hairs on calyx teeth and corolla tubes. The ITS 1 and 2 regions of the five plants ofCuminia sequenced are a total of 451 bp long. All plants have identical ITS-1 but pubescent and glabrous plants are consistently different in ITS-2 sequence, revealing 1.3% total sequence divergence between the species. Both morphological and molecular data support the taxonomic recognition of two taxa, and the small but consistent differences appear to justify species status for the two entities. The pubescent populations representC. eriantha and the glabrous ones areC. fernandezia. It is hypothesized that the species diverged from a common ancestral immigrant to the islands, when Masatierra was much larger and more ecologically diverse than it now is. The two taxa seem to maintain their identities with no evidence of hybridization, even though they often grow in close proximity to one other on the island. Each population consists only of glabrous or pubescent plants, with no mixed population detected.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográfica, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile

    Eduardo Ruiz, Clodomiro Marticorena, Mario Silva & José Becerra

  2. Department of Evolution, Ecology and Biology, Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Ave., 43210, Columbus, OH, U.S.A.

    Daniel Crawford

  3. Department of Higher Plant Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Botany, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, A-1030, Vienna, Australia

    Tod Stuessy

  4. Departamento de Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile

    Fidelina González & Rolando Montoya

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  1. Eduardo Ruiz
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  2. Clodomiro Marticorena
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  3. Daniel Crawford
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  4. Tod Stuessy
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  5. Fidelina González
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  6. Rolando Montoya
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  7. Mario Silva
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  8. José Becerra
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Ruiz, E., Marticorena, C., Crawford, D. et al. Morphological and ITS sequence divergence between taxa of Cuminia (Lamiaceae), an endemic genus of the Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile. Brittonia 52, 341–350 (2000). https://doi.org/10.2307/2666587

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