The importance of qualitative and quantitative anatomical traits in distinguishing species of the series Crataegus subseries Erianthae in Iran

Anatomical traits (leaf and epidermal cells) of ۱۰ Crataegus species belonging to the series Crataegus subseries Erianthae were examined for a taxonomic evaluation. Anatomical characteristics were categorized into qualitative and quantitative traits. All data were analyzed using PCA and clustering methods. The results showed that qualitative such as anticlinal walls of lower epidermal cells, the shape of the vascular bundle of the midrib, the ventral shape of midribs, the stomatal type, and the mesophyll type are more effective than quantitative traits in species identification. Some quantitative traits such as the thickness of the middle vein, the ratio of length to width of the first layer of palisade parenchyma, and the ratio of length to width of the second layer of palisade parenchyma can also be used in species separation. In the species related to high altitudes, the width of the first layer of palisade parenchyma was much less than the species of low altitudes. Crataegus babakhanloui and C. aminii, which did not differ significantly in terms of qualitative traits, differed in several quantitative traits such as the length of the first layer of palisade parenchyma and the length of the long axis of stomata. Among various species and specimens, the highest length of the long axis of stomata was observed in C. aminii and the lowest belonged to specimens in C. meyeri. Crataegus khatamsazae and C. hatamii. These species were described as new species based on morphological and micromorphological differences. Our results showed differences in their quantitative and qualitative anatomical traits.

کلیدواژه ها:

Altitude ، Clustering ، leaf anatomy ، PCA ، Taxonomy