Cytotaxonomical Investigations of Species of the Genus Leucanthemum Adans. em. Briqu. et Cav. from Yugoslavia

Cytological investigations of the species of the genus Leucanthemum Adans. em. Briqu. et Cav. from Yugoslavia allow the conclusion that there is a considerable caryological differentiation which is well in accordance with their ecological and geographical distribution. In this genus some degrees of polyploidy were established. Diploids n = 9, 2n=18 L. praecox H-ić and L. rotundifolium (W. R.) DC. originate from preglacial epoch being clearly separated by their areals and habitats. L. praecox grows exclusively in medium dry valley meadows. L. rotundifolium is an endemic species growing only within strictly limited regions. In Yugoslavia it grows only on the mountain Vranića. Tetraploids n = 18, 2n = 36 There are two species: L. vulgare Lam. (s. str.) and L. leucolepis (Briqu. et Cav.) H-ić. They differ from each other in their morphology, flowering time in different communities as well as in the morphology and size of chromosomes (which is especially clearly visible in meiosis). Hexaploid n = 27, 2n = 54 L. croaticum H-ić is a progressive endemic species in Yugoslavia. Octoploid n = 36, 2n = 72 The investigated L. atratum, corresponding by description more to the subsp. lithopolitanicum E. Mayer than to the typical subsp. atratum, is considered to originate probably from the diploid or tetraploid middle-European species L. atratum. Dodecaploid n = 54, 2n = 108 L. liburnicum H-ić is considered to originate probably by autopolyploidy of the hexaploid L. croaticum