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(American Journal of Botany. 2007;94:29-41.)
© 2007 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Article

On the origin of the sweet-smelling Parma violet cultivars (Violaceae): wide intraspecific hybridization, sterility, and sexual reproduction1

Valéry Malécot7, Thomas Marcussen, Jérôme Munzinger, Roxana Yockteng and Max Henry

Unité Mixte de Recherche A 462 Sciences Agronomiques Appliquées à l'Horticulture (SAGAH) and Département de Sciences Biologiques, Institut National d'Horticulture, 2 rue Le Nôtre, 49045 Angers Cedex 01, France; Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1045, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway; Botanique et BioInformatique de l'Architecture des Plantes, Unité Mixte de Recherche AMAP, TA40/PS2, Boulevard de la Lironde, 34398 Montpellier, France. Present address: Laboratoire de Botanique, Centre IRD, B. P. A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia; Unité Mixte de Recherche 5202 CNRS-MNHN, Origine, Structure et Evolution de la Biodiversité, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 16 rue Buffon CP 39, 75005 Paris, France; Laboratoire de Botanique et Mycologie, Faculté de Pharmacie, Nancy Université, 5 rue Albert Lebrun, BP 80403, F-54001 Nancy Cedex, France

ABSTRACT

Parma violets are reputed for their double, fragrant flowers and have been cultivated for centuries in Europe. However, due to a rather atypical morphology their taxonomic affinity has not been clarified. Authors have proposed an origin from three possible species, Viola alba, V. odorata, or V. suavis, or a hybrid origin. Using both ITS sequence variation and allozyme variation in 14 putative loci, we showed that the Parma violet cultivars have their origin within Viola alba and that they are best included in the Mediterranean subsp. dehnhardtii. There is no trace of interspecific hybridization. However, the cultivars appear to have a single origin in a wide hybrid within V. alba, involving parental plants from the eastern and western Mediterranean region; historical literature sources seem to indicate Turkey and Italy, respectively. The Parma violet cultivars possess high levels of allozyme heterozygosity and to some extent also within-individual ITS sequence variation. Losses of heterozygosity and within-individual ITS sequence variation in some of the cultivars indicate subsequent rare events of sexual reproduction, presumably through cleistogamous seed set. We unambiguously identify the closest wild relative of this group of cultivars, allowing growers to develop new selection procedures, and show a peculiar molecular process associated with human selection.

Key Words: heterozygosity • hybridization • Italy • Parma violets • polymorphism • Turkey • Viola • Violaceae






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