Nelumbo - The Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India

T. N. Khoshoo ¹, Rajinder Singh ¹

Affiliations
1 National Botanic Gardens, Lucknow, IN

Abstract

A large collection of two polymorphic weeds, Portulaca oleracea Linn. and P. quadrifida Linn., originating from diverse sources, was cultivated under uniform conditions. This experiment revealed the extent and nature of be genetic variation in the two species. In the former there were found three qualitatively distinguishable variants all at hexaploid (n=27) level, while in the latter there were only two quantitatively distinct variants at 6x (n=27) and 12x levels. All these have been evaluated biosystematically.

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T. N. Khoshoo ¹

Affiliations
1 National Botanic Gardens, Lucknow, IN

Abstract

After a brief discussion on the biosystematic principles in relation to the traditional taxonomy, the variation pattern of the Sisymbrium irio complex has been considered taxonomically. From a utilitarian point of view, the complex is divisible into two (diploid-hexaploid; tetraploid-octoploid) species, although genetically there are four clear cut species. Such an arrangement is also in line with the genomic relations within the complex. For the present, it is proposed to treat the two members of each species as varieties. Only hexaploid matches with the Linnean holotype, and would thus get the name S. irio Linn. Pending a thorough search for synonymy within the species, a tentative scheme has been suggested.

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