Phenetic analysis shows conspecificity between Hispaniolan Viola domingensis Urban and North American Viola macloskeyi sensu lato (Violaceae) HARVEY E. BALLARD JR., DALE A. CASAMATrA JR., MELISSA M. HALL, ROSS A. MCCAULEY, MARIA CLAUDIA SEGOVIA-SALCEDO, AND ROBERT a. VERB Ballard, H. E., Jr., D. A. Casamatta Jr., M. M. Hall, R. A. McCauley, M. C. Segovia-Salcedo & R. G. Verb (Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Porter Hall, Athens, OH 45701-2979, U.S.A.). Phenetic analysis shows conspecificity between Hispaniolan Viola domingensis Urban and North American Viola macloskeyi sensu lato (Violaceae). Brittonia 53: 122-136. 2001.--Phenetic investigations were undertaken to evaluate differences between the cloud forest endemic Viola domingensis of the Dominican Republic and the morphologically similar V. macloskeyi of continental North America. Cluster, principal components (PCA), and canonical variates analyses (CVA) of leaf char- acters and of ratios derived from them consistently separate V. macloskeyi subsp. macloskeyi of the Pacific states from V. domingensis and transcontinental V. ma- closkeyi subsp, pallens. However, all analyses portray the latter two as extensively intergradient extremes of a continuum, with V. domingensis plants tending to be smaller. Phenetic analyses of capsule and seed features, which are often divergent among other species of subsect. Stolonosae, show V. domingensis to be nested within a broader V. macloskeyi subsp, pallens. Similarly, floral morphology does not provide observable differences between the pair. Results support the synon- ymy of V. domingensis under V. macloskeyi subsp, pallens and reveal that it represents a disjunct outlier of an otherwise continental North American violet. Key words: Viola, phenetic, Dominican Republic, cloud forest, North America, Violaceae. Ballard, H. E., Jr., D. A. Casamatta Jr., M. M. Hall, R. A. McCauley, M. C. Segovia-Salcedo & R. G. Verb (Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Porter Hall, Athens, OH 45701-2979, U.S.A.). Phenetic analysis shows conspecificity between Hispaniolan Viola domingensis Urban and North American Viola macloskeyi sensu lato (Violaceae). Brittonia 53: 000-000. 2001.--Se evaluaron las diferencias fen6ticas existentes entre Viola domingensis, end6mica del bosque hfimedo de Reptiblica Dominicana y V. macloskeyi, mor- fol6gicamente similar, que se distribuye en Norte Am6rica. En base a diferentes pruebas estadfsticas, an~ilisis de agrupamientos, componentes principales (PCA) y variantes sencillas (CVA) de los caracteres de las hojas y de las proporci6nes derivados se separ6 a V. macloskeyi spp. macloskeyi que se distribuye en los estados del Pacffico de los Estados Unidos de la transcontinental V. macloskeyi spp. pallens y de V. domingensis. Sin embargo, todos los an~ilisis indican que las dos dltimas especies pertenecen a los extremos de una gradiente, con la tendencia de V. domingensis de presentar menor tamafio. Tambi6n se analizaron c~ipsulas y semillas, las cuales difieren en otras especies de la subseccion Stolonosae, pero analisis feneticos de los caracteres frutales unen a V. domingensis y V. macloskeyi spp. pallens; mientras estudios de su morfologfa floral no revelan ninguna direr- Brittonia, 53(1), 2001, pp. 122-136. ISSUED: 15 May 2001 92001, by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.