Karyotype Studies in Blue Honeysuckle Species (Lonicera Subsect. Caeruleae, Caprifoliaceae)

For the first time the karyotypes of diploid (2n =  2x =  18) and tetraploid (2n =  4x =  36) species of Lonicera from the Caeruleae subsection: L. altaica Pall., L. boczkarnikowii Plekh. (L. regeliana Boczkarn.), L. edulis Turcz. ex Freyn (2x, 4x), L. emphyllocalyx Maxim., L. iliensis Pojark., L. kamtschatica Pojark., L. pallasii Ledeb., L. stenantha Pojark., L. turczaninowii Pojark., L. villosa (2x, 4x) (Michx.) Muhl. are described. The species with the same level of ploidy had the same karyotype formula: 2m + 6sm + 1st in diploids and 4m + 11sm + 3st in tetraploids, respectively. The amphiploid origin of the tetraploid Lonicera species has been shown. Diploid and tetraploid forms of L. edulis and L. villosa were the particular karyotypes but not the 2x and 4x races of the same species, respectively. Specific differences were revealed in the total chromosome length in the haploid set and in the number of satellites and secondary constrictions. Generic resemblance and specific peculiarities of Lonicera karyotypes indicate a common center of the blue honeysuckle origin and a common initial population of karyotypes which evolved into several phylogenetic branches of the Caeruleae subsection: the Central Asiatic – L. iliensis and L. stenantha; the Siberian – L. altaica, L. edulis, and L. pallasii; the Beringian – L. emphyllocalyx, L. kamtschatica, and L. villosa; the Manchurian – L. boczkarnikowii (L. regeliana), and L. turczaninowii.

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