Phytocenotic Confinement of Fragaria moschata Weston. (Rosaceae) in the Yenisey Sayan Mountains

— It is generally accepted that the musk strawberry ( Fragaria moschata Weston., 2 n = 6 x = 42) occupies the territory of Western and Eastern Europe up to the Ural Mountains and is a typical element of the nemoral flora. Information about the growth of F. moschata in plant communities of Western and Eastern Siberia, including the southern part of Krasnoyarsk krai, started appearing in the second half of the 20th century. The locations of such coenopopulations of musk strawberries are described both for small-leaved forests (mainly) and for fir forests of the Yenisei Sayan Mountains. The purpose of this article is to describe the phytocenotic confinement of two populations of F. moschata (specimens 17–16 and 18–28) in the Yenisei Sayan Mountains, as verified by cytogenetic testing and PCR-based diagnostics. The adh1 gene for alcohol dehydrogenase is used as a molecular marker for the species identification of specimens 17–16 and 18–28 representing these populations. It is shown that specimens 17–16 and 18–28 hybridized with experimental specimens of F. moschata of European origin form full-fledged achenes with typical germination. The result of DNA amplification for specimens 17–16 and 18–28 with primers specific to the adh1 gene sequence shows that the lengths of the amplified fragments of the studied specimens are identical to the PCR profile of F. moschata of European origin. The floristic similarity of these two plant communities, where the studied samples of F. moschata grow, show a low correspondence of these communities in terms of species composition (K J = 0.2). This fact indicates the ability of F. moschata to develop not only ecological niches close to its needs in small-leaved forests (specimen 17–16), but also in the fir forests (specimen 18–28) of the Yenisey Sayan Mountains. The issue of the allochthonism and autochthonism of F. moschata for the Western and Eastern Sayan Mountains is discussed on the basis of herbarium collections and our own findings.