Abstract:
Kosteletzkya pentacarpos (L.) Ledeb. (syn. = K. virginica (L.) K. Presl ex A. Gray), has
been treated as a single variable species or as a species including four varieties: K.
virginica var. althaeifolia, var. aquilonia, var. smilacifolia, and var. virginica. The aim of
this study was to test the validity of formally recognizing these putative infraspecific taxa
by using statistical analysis of morphological data. Loans were received from 15 herbaria
located along the east and Gulf coasts of the United States, a total of 1,114 specimens.
Measurements were taken of 224 specimens for 43 characters and analyzed using
principal components analysis, discriminant analysis, and analysis of variance. Putative
varieties althaeifolia and aquilonia are not morphologically or geographically distinct
from var. virginica but represent extremes in variation along a continuous latitudinal
cline. Plants with dense and long pubescence, biserrate leaf margins, small seeds, and
tightly constricted capsules tend to occur in the southern part of the range, while plants
with short and sparse pubescence, serrate leaf margins, large seeds, and shallowly
constricted capsules occur in the northern part of the range. Variety smilacifolia,
however, occurs only in peninsular Florida, and is morphologically distinct from the
other taxa in having linear hastate leaves with reflexed linear lobes, an unbranched
inflorescence, a slender stem, and a mostly entire leaf margin. A new combination is
proposed: Kosteletzkya pentacarpos (L.) Ledeb. var. smilacifolia (Chapm.) S.N.
Alexander. All other former putative infraspecific taxa are synonymous with Kosteletzkya
pentacarpos var. pentacarpos.
