Electrophoretic evidence for an undescribed species of Barleria L.

Allozyme data confirmed the existence of a new species of Barleria L., Barleria sp. nov. aff. B. obtusa. The following loci displayed unique alleles in at least one of the species studied: AAT-1 *95, AAT-2 *50, AAT-3 *60, ACP*-110, EST *105, MDH-1 *95, MDH-2 *100, MNR-1 *100, MNR-2 *100, PEP-D2 *105, PER-1 *60, PER-1 *80, PGM *100 and SOD *-98. Four were unique for the new species: ACP*-110, EST *105, MNR-1 *100 and PER-1 *80. Genetic distance values between this species and B. bremekampii Obermeyer, B. heterotricha Lindau and B. obtusa Nees ranged from 0.389 to 0.670. This compares favourably with values estimated for congeneric species. This was also confirmed by fixation index values. In a dendrogram constructed using Nei's genetic distances, Barleria sp. nov. aff. B. obtusa and B. obtusa are grouped together and these species are more closely related to B. bremekampii than to B. heterotricha. We present a biochemical key to identify the species studied.