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Intra- and interpopulation variability and taxonomic status of Berberis croatica Horvat

Morphological and anatomical traits of Berberis croatica Horvat that would facilitate the separation from the two related taxa, B. aetnensis C. Presl and B. vulgaris L. and their ITS (internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA) relationship were analyzed. It was determined that B. croatica differs from the two related taxa in the following characteristics: plant height, blade width, petiole length, internode length, number of stomata on adaxial and abaxial leaf side, total number of stomata per leaf as well as the length of the guard cells and the stomatal pore on the abaxial epidermis. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) has shown that 24% of total variance of investigated morpho-anatomical traits was attributable to variability among species. Phenotypic differentiation of species and populations was evident in all of the investigated taxa. Southern populations of B. croatica grouped with the populations of B. aetnensis with whom they proved to be highly similar. ITS sequence analysis did not separate B. aetnensis, B. croatica and B. vulgaris. The nature of distinctive morpho-anatomical traits combined with the lack of ITS differences suggested intraspecies taxonomic rank of B. croatica.

anatomy; Berberis aetnensis; Berberis croatica; Berberis vulgaris; internal transcribed spacers (ITS); morphology.

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