Comparative Study (AFLP and Morphology) of Three species of Prosopis of the Section Algarobia: P. juliflora, P. pallida and P. limensis. Evidences for the resolution of "Prosopis pallida-P.juliflora complex"

PALACIOS, R.A.; BURGHARDT, A.D.; FRIAS-HERNANDEZ, J.T. ; OLALDE-PORTUGAL, V.; NORA GRADOS; ALBAN, L.; MARTINEZ DE LA VEGA, O

PLANT SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION

SPRINGER WIEN

Año: 2011 p. 165 - 171

0378-2697

The problems of species delimitation of Prosopis originate from the few morphological discontinuities existent among some of them, however some were originated by the wide distribution of germplasm without proper knowledge of the species, in particular, much material catalogued as P. juliflora, being of other different species, was distributed for projects of reforestation worldwide. This work tests the morphological results obtained for P. pallida and P. limensis of the Peruvian-Ecuadorian coast and for P. juliflora of the Caribbean Basin of Colombia and Venezuela utilizing a study of AFLPs and a study of morphology of plantlets developed in a common garden study. The phenogram obtained for the AFLPs demonstrates each one of the three species as a cluster well differentiated and the molecular variance between them is significantly greater than the variance within each species. As well, the study of the plantlets indicates differences statistically significant for four morphological characters between P. juliflora and the other two species (P. pallida and P. limensis). These results, in addition to the morphological differentiation evident between adult plants of P. pallida and P. limensis, as well as the clear separation of these two species from P. juliflora, corroborate the genetic identity of the three taxa analyzed.