Jepsonia malvifolia is a long-lived perennial herb endemic to the Channel Islands of southern California and Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Twelve populations of J. malvifolia on San Clemente Island were surveyed for their genotype at 21 allozyme loci, revealing high levels of genetic polymorphism. There is no significant relationship between genetic and geographic distance. The genetic variation observed is unusually high for an insular endemic herb and indicates that J. malvifolia is unlikely to be endangered by genetic factors. Delphinium variegatum is subdivided into three subspecies distinguished by three floral characters.
Broad variation is documented in most natural populations for all three floral characters.
Our results indicate that the two metric characters, lateral sepal length and lower petal blade length, provide no clear distinction between the taxa. Sepal color is the least ambiguous for differentiating the subspecies, but is problematic in distinguishing between D. v. kinkiense and D. v. thornei. However, one southern population contains primarily light-flowered individuals, and almost half of the populations contain individuals having sepal colors considered to represent the two different subspecies. Further taxonomic study including additional characters is recommended to determine whether D. v. kinkiense and D. v. thornei should be considered distinct taxa. Outplanting and differential source population success in Lupinus guadalupensis.