Use of chloroplast DNA polymorphisms for the phylogenetic study of <i>Allium</i> subgenus <i>Amerallium</i> and subgenus <i>Bromatorrhiza</i> (Alliaceae) II

Abstract

Abstract The utility of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) restriction mapping of 18 Allium species of the subgenera Amerallium, Melanocrommyum, Allium and Bromatorrhiza have been cladistically analysed, according to the recently proposed paraphyletic origin of the subgenera Bromatorrhiza and Amerallium. The size of the restriction fragment and the precise fragment order of A. zebdanense cpDNA were determined for 10 enzymes. The parsimony analysis confirms strongly the subdivision of the genus Allium in two main groups with different basic chromosome numbers (x = 7 and x = 8), which had been earlier proposed on the basis of morphological, karyological, anatomical and other molecular markers. Subgenus Amerallium (x = 7) itself is distinctly differentiated into two main subgroups, representing the Eurasian and the American taxa. The subgeneric status of Bromatorrhiza has to be cancelled, its members must be subordinated as sections to subgenus Amerallium (sect. Bromatorrhiza ) and to one of the Eurasian subgenera with x = 8 (probably to the subgenus Allium or Rhizirideum ).