A Phylogenetic Study on Crocus gargaricus Herb. Complex
Crocus gargaricus complex (Iridaceae) has been known from 3 populations and two taxa from Turkey. These taxa, however, had controversial relationships for about 200 years. Crocus gargaricus Herbert was described from Kazdagi in 1841 and later another population discovered from Goktepe, Mugla which is geographically very distant. Crocus thirkeanus K.Koch was known only from Uludag for a long time. For about 40 years after their discovery, they were considered synonyms until in 1984 when C. thirkeanus was considered subspecies of C. gargaricus namely C. gargaricus subsp. herbertii. The latest molecular methods showed them to be distinct species but all studies used the cultivated material until that point. In this study, all known populations of C. gargaricus complex were collected from their original locations and also two more populations which were discovered after former studies (Kutahya and Izmir) were used in this study. Morho-anatomical measurements were performed, data were evaluated as statistically, cytological studies were performed and molecular phylogeny was studied amoung all populations.