Christoph Oberprieler The Systematics of Anthemis L. - Herbmedit.org

16 Oberprieler: Anthemis in N Africa
A. kruegeriana, A. cyrenaica, and A. taubertii in E Libya, and A. retusa in N Egypt, while
A. rigida is found in the Aegean archipelago.
Anthemis sect. Maruta consists of 14 species and, according to Meusel & Jager (1992),
inhabits an E Mediterranean-SW Iranian area with one species (A. cotula, incl.
A. lithuanica) being archeophytically distributed throughout Europe and SW Asia. Two
representatives of the section, A. cotula and A. pseudocotula, reach N Africa, the former is
presumably introduced by Man into N Morocco (Tangier peninsula, Rif mountains,
Melilla peninsula) and the vicinity of cities like Oran (Algeria), Sfax, and Gabès (Tunisia),
the latter reaching the SW Iimit of its natural distribution in Cyrenaica.
Anthemis subg. Cota, like sect. Anthemis and sect. Hiorthia, shows a concentration of
its species in the SE European and SW Asian part of its distributional range. Most of its
species are restricted to small areas in the submediterranean parts of Turkey and the adjacent
Caucasus countries. However, some perennial members of A. sect. Anthemaria (e.g.
A. tinctoria, A. triumfetti), along with monocarpic representatives of A. sect. Cota
(A. altissima, A. austriaca), penetrate C and SW Europe. Since A. austriaca is known to
occur synanthropically in ruderal plant cornrnunities of C Europe, its occurrence in N
Africa, which is demonstrated in the present paper for the first time, is Iikely due to human
activity.
7. Modes of speciation within Anthemis in N Africa
The N African representatives of the genus Anthemis offer an interesting insight into the
evolutionary patterns realised in this genus. Most of the observed mechanisms also occur
in groups of related taxa in other parts of the generic range, and in other genera of Anthemideae.
As Ehrendorfer (1970) has pointed out, main changes of evolutionary patterns
and strategies in this tribe are observed in connection with the switch from perennial to
annuallife formo
New data on N African taxa, along with published records by Uitz (1970), Ehrendorfer
(1970), Mitsuoka & Ehrendorfer (1972), and Kuzmanov & al. (1981), show that Anthemis
sect. Hiorthia is the only section of the genus where polyploidy has played a significant
evolutionary role. Ali of the N African representatives of this section were found to exist
at the tetraploid level. While A. abylaea, A. eretica subsp. columnae, and A. punctata are
restricted to this level, in the widespread A. pedunculata, and according to pollen dimensions
in some N African populations of A. maritima (in A. maritima subsp. bolosii) as
well, diploids are found. These populations, along with the discoid A. alpestris which is
endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, are the only diploid representatives of the section in the
W Mediterranean area.
While in Anthemis maritima morphological differences between (presumably) diploid
and tetraploid representatives were found to be marked enough to recognise the two entities
as separate subspecies, there seems to exist but little correlation between ploidy level
and morphology in A. pedunculata. Multivariate statistical analyses of morphological
variation along with results of molecular studies (see chapter 13) indicate that most of the
tetraploids have to be considered to be of autotetraploidorigin. Though the difference in
ploidy leve I may act as a rather effective crossing barrier, most of the tetraploid popula-