Chloroplast capture by a new variety, Juniperus sabina var. balkanensis R. P. Adams and A. N. Tashev, from the Balkan peninsula: A putative stabilized relictual hybrid between J. sabina and ancestral J. thurifera

Abstract

An example of chloroplast capture has been found in Juniperus sabina from Bulgaria and Greece in the Balkan peninsula. The cpDNA from these populations is very uniform and is nearly identical to that of J. thurifera (currently growing in France, Spain and Morocco). The new taxon is recognized as Juniperus sabina var. balkanensis R. P. Adams and A. Tashev. At present, the variety, with the thurifera cpDNA, is known only from Bulgaria and Greece