Life Sciences Commons^™

Relationships Of A Northern Maine Population Of Amelanchier (Rosaceae), Matthew R. Sheltra

Honors College

Amelanchier is a genus of plants that produces seeds both sexually and by apomixis (asexual seed production). Asexuality is the dominant mode of reproduction in tetraploids (which contain four sets of chromosomes) and has created uncertainty about species delimitation in this genus. A tetraploid population of Amelanchier at a site called Pudding Rock on the Aroostook River in northern Maine has long been hypothesized to belong to Amelanchier gaspensis, a member of the Amelanchier sanguinea species complex. Using structural features (morphology), knowledge of the number of sets of chromosomes (ploidy level), and DNA sequence data, I tested this hypothesis. …