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“Geneto-floristics”: reševanje florističnih in sistematskih 
vprašanj z molekulskimi metodami
“Geneto-floristics”: solving floristic-systematic problems 
with molecular tools
P e t e r Sc h ö N S W e t t e r
Department of Biogeography and Botanical Garden, University of Vienna, 
Rennweg 14, A-1030 Vienna, Austria; peter.schoenswetter@univie.ac.at
My presentation aims to brake down reciprocal reservations of “field/morphological 
guys” and “molecular guys”. I illustrate this with two examples of my own research.
In the course of molecular phylogeographical investigations in Androsace a previously 
unrecognised entity from the Komovi mountains (Črna Gora) was identified as a clearly 
separated new species, Androsace komovensis. It morphologically resembles A. mathildae 
from the Abruzzo mountains (Italy), but differs in the persistent, dense and regular 
indumentum of the leaf margin. Molecular phylogenetic data indicate that A. komovensis 
is not closely related to A. mathildae, but is sister species to the Eastern Alpine A. 
hausmanni.
Papaver alpinum s.l. is an extraordinarily polymorphic taxon. We tested previous 
hypotheses about relationships and taxonomical status of the numerous described taxa 
within this species group by applying molecular approaches. In addition we re-evaluated 
morphological characters used in previous taxonomic treatments in light of the molecular 
results. The ancestral sequence haplotypes were widespread and dominant throughout the 
Alps, whereas peripheral populations in other mountain ranges were often characterised by 
haplotypes directly derived from the central haplotypes. AFLP data corroborated the pattern 
of a ‘centrifugal radiation’ and additionally showed that most populations were genetically 
distinct, presumably due to the effect of genetic drift in small and isolated populations. The 
morphological data did not reveal clear patterns of variation; only the Pyrenean and Sierra 
Nevada populations differed in two non-overlapping characters. Our study implied that 
previous taxonomic concepts of P. alpinum s.l. were highly artificial, and that either nearly 
all populations have to be raised to some taxonomic rank or that, preferably, no infraspecific 
taxa should be recognised at all. The only segregate possibly deserving taxonomic rank is 
the Iberian subsp. lapeyrousianum.
Pe t e r Sc h ö N S W e t t e r : “Geneto-floristics”: reševanje florističnih …