Article

Caryological studies were performed on 22 populations of Urginea maritima s.l. from centrai and western Mediterranean region and three levels of ploidy, 2x (2n = 20), 4x (2n = 40) and 6x (2n = 60) were identified. Diploids were found in Sicily (ltaly) and Minorca (Balearic Islands, Spain), tetraploids in Sardinia (ltaly), Mallorca and Ibiza (Baleari c Islands, Spain) and Algeria, whereas hexaploids were identified only from the SE Spanish mainland (provinces of Almeria, Alicante and CasteIl6n). The morphological analyses of fourteen of the studied populations showed that the diploid plants from Minorca clearly differ by several characters from ali other studied plants, lncluding the diploids from Sicily. The diploids from Minorca are characterised by superficial and green bulbs, their leaves of light green colour are leaned on the ground and have a peculiar shape with almost parallel margins. On the contrary, it was impossible to distinguish on the basis of the morphological characters considered the diploids from Sicily from the tetraploids and hexaploids, which are ali quite similar. The results obtained suggest that specific category should be assigned to the plants from Minorca.