Cytotaxonomy Pteris ensiformis Burm.f.

Abstract

The cytotaxonomy of Pteris ensiformis Burm.f. from several places in Indonesia have been studied. The information about infraspesific variation of P. ensiformis and the relationships within P. ensiformis can be used to clarify the intraspecies delimitation of P. ensiformis. The objectives of this study were to examine morphological, cytological and mode reproduction of P. ensiformis and to clarified the correlation between mode of reproduction, ploidy level and morphological variation in P. ensiformis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examined the intraspesific variation of P. ensiformis in Indonesia. This study was conducted from September 2012 to June 2013. The morphological character was examined from 60 collections of living plants originated from Gorontalo, Lombok and various places in Java, added the specimen from Herbarium Bogoriense (BO). Cytological observations were conducted by observing somatic chromosome of root tips using squash methods. Modes of reproduction were determined by counting the number of spores of each sporangium. New cytological record of P. ensiformis var. victoriae have been found from Indonesia i.e 2n=58 (diploid sexual) from Gorontalo, Celebes and 2n=87 (triploid) from Lombok Island and Bogor West Java. The diploid sexual of var. victoriae has smaller in habitus than that of the triploid races. Cytotype tetraploid sexual (2n=116) of var. ensiformis, collected from various places in Java is an important information of cyto-reproduction data of var. ensiformis in Indonesia. Based on morphological data, P. ensiformis consistenly can be classified into two varieties namely P. ensiformis var. ensiformis and P. ensiformis var. victoriae. However, futher study to clarify their relationship among varieties is strongly recommended.