Identification and characterization of Gypsophila paniculata color morphs in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI, USA

Gypsophila paniculata (baby’s breath) is an invasive species found throughout much of the northwest United States and western Canada. Recently, plants exhibiting a different color morphology were identified within the coastal dunes along eastern Lake Michigan. The common baby’s breath (G. paniculata) typically produces stems that are purple in color (purple morph), while the atypical morph has stems that are green-yellow (green-yellow morph). The purpose of this study was to characterize these newly identified morphs and determine if they are genetically distinct species from the common baby’s breath in order to assess whether alternative management strategies should be employed to control these populations. Methods. We sequenced two chloroplast regions, rbcL and matK, and one nuclear region, ITS2, from the purple morphs and green-yellow morphs collected from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI, USA (SBDNL). Sequences were aligned to reference sequences from other Gypsophila spec...