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SYSTEMATICS OF THE COREOPSIS PETROPHILOIDES—LUCIDA—TEOTEPECENSIS COMPLEX
Author(s) -
Crawford Daniel J.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1971.tb09983.x
Subject(s) - biology , herbarium , taxon , botany , systematics , zoology , ecology , taxonomy (biology)
In a systematic study of Coreopsis petrophiloides and two closely related species ( C. lucida and C. leolepecensis ), field and herbarium studies revealed extreme interpopulational variation in both the leaves and capitula. The variation was found to be continuous, and it was thus impossible to delimit morphologic units within the complex. Both C. lucida and C. teotepecensis fit into the pattern of morphological variation found within the complex as a whole. Chromosome counts from plants representing nearly every morphological type showed that all had a number of 2n = 52. Greenhouse hybridization studies revealed that the various morphologic and geographic races are highly inter‐compatible, and preliminary data indicate them to be interfertile. The flavonoid chemistry of the leaves and floral tissues was very uniform in all plants sampled (including C. lucida and C. teotepecensis from their type localities). On the basis of these data, Coreopsis lucida and C. teotepecensis are considered to be synonyms of C. petrophiloides , and the latter species is recognized as a wide ranging, variable taxon with no discernible subspecific units.