Premium
EVOLUTIONARY STUDIES OF ATRIPLEX: CHROMOSOME RACES OF A. CONFERTIFOLIA (SHADSCALE)
Author(s) -
Stutz Howard C.,
Sanderson Stewart C.
Publication year - 1983
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.1537-2197.1983.tb10857.x
Subject(s) - polyploid , biology , botany , pollen , pleistocene , evolutionary biology , paleontology , ploidy , gene , biochemistry
Atriplex confertifolia (Torr. and Frem.) S. Wats., a species endemic to western United States, occurs as 2 n , 4 n , 6 n , 8 n and 10 n chromosome races. In the Great Basin, diploids occur altitudinally above the upper levels of Pleistocene lakes; the polyploids are in valley bottoms and sides. Diploids are larger in all respects than tetraploids, hexaploids, and octoploids. Decaploids are the most robust of all. Diploids can be distinguished in early seedling stages by having broader leaves and shorter internodes than polyploids. Polyploid plants are currently produced sporadically in natural populations and appear to be easily generated by unreduced gametes. Most polyploid populations in the Great Basin apparently arose recently and erupted into extensive stands because of the sudden availability of large, relatively uniform domains provided by the disappearance of Pleistocene lakes.