Genetic structuring, dispersal and taxonomy of the high-alpine populations of the Geranium arabicum/kilimandscharicum complex in tropical eastern Africa.

ABSTRACT: The scattered eastern African high mountains harbor a renowned and highly endemic flora, but the taxonomy and phylogeographic history of many plant groups are still insufficiently known. The high-alpine populations of the Geranium arabicum/kilimandscharicum complex present intricate morphological variation and have recently been suggested to comprise two new endemic taxa. Here we aim to contribute to a clarification of the taxonomy of these populations by analyzing genetic (AFLP) variation in range-wide high-alpine samples, and we address whether hybridization has contributed to taxonomic problems. We identified only two genetic groups. One corresponded to G. kilimandscharicum, which has been reported as exclusively high-alpine and confined to the eastern Rift mountains in East Africa. The

SUBMITTER: Wondimu T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5446165 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature