Taxonomical study of some species of Fagaceae in Iran

The Fagaceae family has eight genera and over 1000 species of trees and shrubs that are almost all distributed in the northern hemisphere. The genera Fagus and Castanea with one and Quercus with 17 species are in Iran. Species in this family are used in wood industrial products. Despite its economic and ecologic importance, it constitutes species especially Quercus that raise many taxonomic and evolutionary questions. This work was initiated with the objective of morphology and anatomy of the leaf of existing taxa in Iran to identify and establish their similarities and dissimilarities relationship between them. Thus, we observed 52 quantitative and qualitative characters from the leaf. Cluster analysis and Principal components analysis (PCA) were done based on Euclidean distance and covariance characteristics, respectively. PCAobtained the same result of the cluster analysis. Results showed that Quercus macrantheraFisch. & C.A.Mey. and Q. cardachorum C. Koch and also two other species Q. castaneifoliaC.A.Mey. and Q. libani Oliv. had the most morphological similarities in PCA and cluster analysis. These findings are useful for species identification. It appears that differences and similarities among species are related to ecological environment and habitat conditions besides their genetic characteristics