Two postglacial immigration lineages of the polyploid Cerastium alpinum (Caryophyllaceae)

The plant cover of Fennoscandia is young because of the recent glaciation. This study covers the early stages of diversification and the genetic consequences of postglacial migration of a hermaphroditic polyploid plant. Cerastium alpinum. It has a continuous distribution in the alpine region, where it grows on alpine heaths and serpentine soils that are rich in heavy metals. Within the boreal forest C. alpinum has a scattered distribution on serpentine, dolomite and steep slopes. Plants from 31 populations in Norway, Sweden and Finland were subjected to enzyme electrophoresis. Analyses of the enzyme phenotypes suggest that C. alpinum has colonized Fennoscandia through two postglacial immigration events resulting in a southeastern and a southwestern lineage. These two lineages seem to meet in a hybrid zone in northern Sweden. Large genetic differences were found among most populations in both the southeastern and the southwestern lineages. This suggests that the populations are effectively isolated from each other.