Intraspecific diversity in Sinningia speciosa (Gesneriaceae: Sinningieae), and possible origins of the cultivated florist's gloxinia.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

The florist's gloxinia is a familiar houseplant in the Gesneriaceae, the botanical family that includes the African violet (Saintpaulia) and other ornamental species. The gloxinia's wild progenitor is Sinningia speciosa (Lodd.) Hiern, a Brazilian endemic. Although it has been cultivated for almost 200 years, little is known about the genetic diversity in S. speciosa, how the wild populations relate to one another or even where the cultivated forms originated. Using available wild collections, preliminary phenetic and phylogenetic investigations were conducted to elucidate the interspecific relationships within S. speciosa and to infer the origins of the cultivars.

Methodology

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was applied to 24 accessi

SUBMITTER: Zaitlin D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3676262 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature