Systematics of the Dactylorhiza euxina/incarnata/maculata polyploid complex (Orchidaceae) in Turkey: evidence from allozyme data

Material of Dactylorhiza were sampled from 49 localities in Turkey and inve stigated for allozyme variation at ten loci (nine enzyme systems). Among di ploids, the Anatolian D. osmanica and D. umbrosa were allozymically variabl e, but not distinct from each other or from D. incarnata. Dactylorhiza sacc ifera contained the same alleles as the European D. fuchsii. Dactylorhiza i berica and D. euxina were distinct from each other and the other diploids. On basis of allozyme patterns three distinct allotetraploid genotypes were distinguished, and each of them could be treated as a separate species. Dac tylorhiza nieschalkiorum is similar to European allotetraploids, and may ha ve arisen from hybridization between D. incarnata s.l. and D. saccifera. Da ctylorhiza urvilleana may have arisen from parents related to present-day D . saccifera and D. euxina, but it also contains additional alleles that hav e not been found in any of the diploids investigated. A third allotetraploi d known from four populations in the Ardahan and Kars provinces of north-ea stern Turkey combines the allozyme patterns found in material of D. incarna ta s.l. from the same area with those from D. euxina. It is here described for the first time as D. armeniaca.