Cytotaxonomy of Begonia rubropunctata and B. purpureofolia (Begoniaceae)

Abstract

The chromosome numbers of four Chinese Begonia species were counted for the first time as follows: 2n = 22 in B. rubropunctata, 2n = 18 in B. purpureofolia, 2n = 44 in B. pedatifida, and 2n = 22 in B. villifolia. The first two species had relatively large chromosomes with early condensed chromatin in the distal and interstitial or proximal regions, whereas the last two had small chromosomes with early condensed chromatin in the proximal regions. Although they have been reduced in the literature to synonyms of B. pedatifida and B. villifolia, respectively, B. rubropunctata and B. purpureofolia should be treated as distinct species because of the differences in chromosome numbers and other chromosome features. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London.