Hybridogenic activity of Solidago L. in North-Eastern Europe

Abstract

Two invasive species of goldenrod of North American origin, Solidago canadensis and S. gigantea, widely spread in Europe, are known to be able to form hybrids with the native goldenrod S. virgaurea. In the Kaliningrad Region of Russia and in Lithuania, we found plants morphologically classified as the hybrids S. × snarskisii (= S. gigantea × S. virgaurea) and S. × niederederi (= S. canadensis × S. virgaurea). Analysis of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1–2 (ITS 1–2) showed the ambiguity of the origin of the alleged hybrids. Thus, in S. × niederederi, the nucleotide substitutions that differentiate the parent species S. virgaurea and S. canadensis had ambiguous readings, indicating heterozygosity, which confirmed the hybridogenic origin of the individuals. However, for many specimens of S. × snarskisii, the hybridogenic origin was not confirmed. Occasionally, hybrids do occur, but appear to be soon absorbed by the maternal species. An analysis of the chloroplast non-coding intergenic spacer rpl32–trnL showed that in these rare cases, the maternal species is S. virgaurea, and the paternal one is S. gigantea.

Keywords

• solidago
• invasive species
• hybridization
• solidago × niederederi
• solidago × snarskisii
• its 1–2
• rpl32–trnl.