Karyological and molecular characterisation of subgenus Vicia (Fabaceae)

In the present report, we have analysed the subgenus Vicia by karyological and molecular approaches with the aim to clarify the relationships among Vicia species included in this subgenus by previously evidenced morphological investigations. Multivariate analysis using several karyomorphological parameters in addition to symmetry indices has allowed the construction of a dendrogram of linkage distances very useful to compare and to include in a phylogenetic tree obtained by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA sequences. Moreover, a separate analysis was performed combining our molecular data on ITS sequences with those reported in the literature for the section Vicilla. Our analyses partly confirm the monophyletic status of the various sections in which the subgenus Vicia has been divided, however questioning, in some cases, the real need to maintain all the nine sections so far accepted and the placement of some individual species in the two subgenera Vicia and Vicilla.