Taxonomìc analysis of Senecio pauciflorus and S. indecorus (Asteraceae)

• Published in: Nordic Journal of Botany
• Main Authors: Bain, John F., Whitton, Jeannette
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1994
• Subjects: Plant Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-1051.1994.tb00584.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1756-1051.1994.tb00584.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1756-1051.1994.tb00584.x

Senecio pauciflorus and S. indecorus (= Packera pauciflora and P. indecora ) are autogamous, high polyploid species with similar geographic ranges in North America. Their east‐west distribution pattern including a disjunction in California is unusual within the aureoid Senecio complex and may provide insights into the origins of the aureoid complex. Taxonomic treatment of the two taxa has varied in the past due to the similarity and variability of the taxa. Results of morphological analyses of 192 herbarium specimens show that the taxa are best treated as two distinct species and that infraspecifìc variation is not related to geographical distribution. Separation of taxa remains difficult. California specimens are the most difficult to classify and may represent the ancestral group. Based on morphology and chromosome number it is suggested that the 5. pauciflorus‐S. indecorus group may have originated from the arctic‐alpine aureoid group including S. cymbalaria .