Abstract
The Dryopteris varia complex (subg. Erythrovariae sect. Variae Fraser-Jenk.) is an apogamous fern complex. Most species of the complex are triploid apogamous, show morphological and genetic variation, and present difficulties in their identification. Recent molecular research suggested that the reason that each apogamous species in the complex is so variable is due to reticulate evolution through hybridization between diploid sexual and triploid apogamous species. In this study, we summarized the taxonomic treatment of 11 species within the D. varia complex (D. bissetiana, D. chichisimensis, D. erythrovaria sp. nov., D. hikonensis, D. insularis, D. kobayashii, D. protobissetiana, D. sacrosancta, D. saxifraga, D. subhikonensis sp. nov., and D. varia) on the basis of their genome constituents revealed by molecular analyses.
