Biometrical study of some individuals chosen from Pinus mugo turra populations in the peat bog "Bór na Czerwonem"

Abstract

Sixteen individuals were sampled for study of variation in 17 anatomical and morphological characters. Only individuals of low polycormic growth (trait typical for <i>Pinus mugo</i> Turra) connected with incurved one-year-cone stipes (a similar situation exists in <i>Pinus sylvestris</i> L.) were chosen, thus the sample studied cannot be treated as a random one. It has been shown by multivariate statistical analysis that these 16 individuals are quite different from each other, Mahalanobis'generalized distances between them being nearly 50% significantly different from 0. The sample studied in this respect is distinctly different from pure stands of both putative parental species (i.e. <i>Pinus mugo</i> and <i>P. sylvestris</i>). Every plant studied shows a different combination of traits typical (or nearly typical) for both the above-mentioned species and traits that are truly intermediate between them. The results support the frequently expressed opinion that the mountain pine population from the peat bog "Bór na Czerwonem" is, in fact, a hybrid swarm formed by hybridization between <i>Pinus mugo</i> and <i>Pinus sylvestris</i>.