Reticulate evolution of high-alpine Aconitum (Ranunculaceae) in the Eastern Carpathians (Central Europe)

The chromosomal and molecular PCR-ISSR+RAPD pattern of high-mountain Aconitum sect. Aconitum in the Sudetes and Carpathians were analyzed to test whether the taxon has common markers in these two mountain systems. In the Sudetes the taxon forms an autopolyploid chromosome complex (2n = 32), and allopolyploid in the neighboring Western Carpathians. The chromosome Giemsa C banding pattern of the allotetraploid Carpathian A. firmum was found to be common to both Sudetic autopolyploid A. plicatum and diploid A. variegatum. The Sudetes are geologically older than the Carpathians, and it is argued that an ancient Sudetic taxon may have contributed to the genome of the Carpathian taxon. The Quaternary glaciations and corresponding range extensions of alpine floras may have facilitated their secondary contact(s). This is supported by a molecular ISSR+RAPD pattern that points to introgression between the Sudetic A. plicatum subsp. sudeticum and Carpathian A. firmum subsp. maninense