A morphological analysis of local variation in Stipa nelsonii and S. richardsonii (Gramineae)

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Abstract
A putative intermediate between S. richardsonii and S. nelsonii was shown to be a large form of S. nelsonii that varied in the direction of S. richardsonii. The putative intermedite did not have seed and had a lower percentage of variable intercorrelations than either S. nelsonii or S. richardsonii, indicating that gene flow may have occurred between S. richardsonii and S. nelsonii to produce the putative intermediates. S. nelsonii was more variable than either S. richardsonii or the putative intermediates. This greater variability of S. nelsonii, correlated with the taxon''s greater subspecific differentiation, represents an example of the Kluge-Kerfoot phenomenon. Quantification of intra-individual variation (= developmental variability) serves to extend the Kluge-Kerfoot phenomena to a developmental level.