Chloroplast DNA and isozyme evidence on the evolution ofSenecio vulgaris (Asteraceae)

Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and isozyme variation were analyzed over a range of populations of two infraspecific taxa of the tetraploidSenecio vulgaris. The isozyme data were supportive of the hypothesis that the weedy and cosmopolitanS. vulgaris var.vulgaris is an evolutionary derivative ofS. vulgaris subsp.denticulatus from the coasts of W Europe and montane altitudes in S Spain and Sicily. The two taxa exhibited a very high genetic identity with subsp.denticulatus containing slightly more isozyme diversity than was found in var.vulgaris. — Three cpDNA haplotypes (A, B, C) already known from other Mediterranean diploid species ofSenecio were resolved in var.vulgaris, and an additional fourth …