Evolution of Oenothera laciniata (Onagraceae), a Permanent Translocation Heterozygote

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Abstract
The evolutionary origins of permanent translocation heterozygosity remain largely a matter of speculation. Two routes were posited: interspecific or interpopulational hybridization and gradual accumulation of translocations within a population. To test these hypotheses for 1 such chromosomal heterozygote, O. laciniata, allozyme data were collected for this species and other members of its subsection. These data show that O. laciniata is very closely related to the self-incompatible O. grandis (Nei''s D = 0.003), which it also resembles in morphology and ecology. The allozyme data suggest that O. laciniata is a stabilized hybrid, although not an interspecific one; instead, the data collected here and elsewhere suggest that O. laciniata arose more than once as an interpopulational hybrid of O. grandis.