Polyploidy in T.laxa and Geographic Distribution

Polyploidy is of particular interest in plants as it can result in reproductive isolation which can lead to speciation. Triteleia laxa (Amaryllidaceae) is an example of polyploidy in a species that shows very little morphologic variation across several different chromosome counts. Prior to our investigation diploid chromosome numbers of 14, 16, 21, 24, 28, 32, 42, and 48 were reported in the literature (Johansen, 1932; Burbanck, 1942). Our investigation has revealed that in addition to the previously discovered chromosomes series with base numbers x=7 and x=8, there is also a chromosome series with x=6. Newly observed chromosome counts of 2n=12 and 2n=18 lead to this conclusion. We present distribution maps of all chromosomal races and photomicrographs of all known chromosome complements