THE ANTENNARIA-FRIESEANA (ASTERACEAE, INULEAE) POLYPLOID COMPLEX - MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION IN SEXUAL AND AGAMOSPERMOUS TAXA

The Antennaria frieseana (Trautv.) Ekman polyploid complex has been evaluated on numerous occasions without concensus to either the taxa that should be included or their proper ranks. The purpose of this phenetic study was to present a taxonomy for the polyploid complex that is not only independent of a knowledge of chromosome number and reproductive biology but that concurrently reflects morphological variation associated with each. The rank of subspecies (A. frieseana ssp. frieseana and A. frieseana ssp. alaskana (Malte) Hulten) was accepted as the most appropriate level of circumscription that satisfied the purpose of the phenetic study and was supported by the analysis. These subspecies differ with respect to the length of the involucre, inner phyllary length, pappus length, corolla length (the latter subspecies being typically smaller than the former), chromosome number, reproductive biology, and (in part) provenance. Antennaria frieseana ssp frieseana is an agamospermous polyploid, represented by pentaploid (2n = 70) and hexaploid (2n = 84) cytotypes. Antennaria frieseana ssp. alaskana is sexual, probably partially agamospermous (tetraploid cytotype), and either diploid (2n = 28) or tetraploid (2n = 56).