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Phenetic analysis shows conspecificity between Hispaniolan Viola domingensis Urban and North American Viola macloskeyi sensu lato (Violaceae)

Abstract:

Phenetic investigations were undertaken to evaluate differences between the cloud forest endemic Viola domingensis of the Dominican Republic and the morphologically similar V. macloskeyi of continental North America. Cluster, principal components (PCA), and canonical variates analyses (CVA) of leaf characters and of ratios derived from them consistently separate V. macloskeyi subsp. macloskeyi of the Pacific states from V. domingensis and transcontinental V. macloskeyi subsp, pallens. However, all analyses portray the latter two as extensively intergradient extremes of a continuum, with V. domingensis plants tending to be smaller. Phenetic analyses of capsule and seed features, which are often divergent among other species of subsect. Stolonosae, show V. domingensis to be nested within a broader V. macloskeyi subsp, pallens. Similarly, floral morphology does not provide observable differences between the pair. Results support the synonymy of V. domingensis under V. macloskeyi subsp, pallens and reveal that it represents a disjunct outlier of an otherwise continental North American violet.