The Iranian Journal of Botany
Volume:18 Issue: 2, Summer and Autumn 2012

The genus Polygonum L. is reviewed based on the literature and available herbarium materials. A. synopsis and identification key based on recently division of the Polygonum sensu lato to 3 different genera: Polygonum L. sensu sticto, Bistorta Adans. and Persicaria Mill. are provided to the ca. 45 accepted taxa. In addition, the checklist of accepted species and synonyms including selected studied specimens are given. Furthermore, Polygonum iranicum which has been collected from Fars province is described as a new species from Iran. Persicaria salicifolia which has been collected from Khuzestan province is reported as a new species record from Iran.

Natural sites were selected as sampling areas in most parts of Hyrcanian forests to study the taxonomical parameters during 2005 – 2010. The range and frequency distribution of Tilia trees were studied via searching on the forestry projects and documents, local inquiry and finally controlling the field data towards finding the trees from each forest type during the study period. Corresponding field data included taxonomical details of the specimens and environmental variables. This also accounted for local morphological variation within the different sites of each ecosystem. All studies were performed on living and herbarium specimens, and on some of the most important local herbarium materials. Results of morphological study and biometry of specimens showed that there are clear differences between trees and herbarium specimens. According to summarized data from the obtained results, six distinct species were identified that include: Tilia cordata, Tilia dasystyla, Tilia rubra subsp. caucasica, Tilia begonifolia, Tilia sabetii and Tilia stellato-pilosa. Of these six species, the last two species are new to science. Nevertheless variation and presence of these species reveal high degree of diversity of this genus in Iran. To provide new identification key for the species, most important botanical characteristics and their ecology and geographical distributions are described.

For the preparing of aqua Flora of Iran, the appropriate materials collected from wetlands and identified. Among Urticularia species one new record to Iran namely Utricularia ochroleuca from a bog in Mazandaran was found. Other species, Utricularia minor collected from Gahar lake in Lorestan, U. vulgaris from Zarivar lake in Kurdestan and U. australis from Gilan. In this paper a key to the Iranian species is presented and the new record and other species are explained.

Oxalis is the only genus of Oxalidaceae in Iran. Rechinger in Flora Iranica has mentioned Oxalis corniculata L. from Iran. Afterwards two other species were reported from Iran (O. articulata and O. corymbosa). Oxalis latifolia is reported here as a new record for the flora of the Iran. A new identification key of the species of the genus is presented here.

As a result of a taxonomic review of the Iranian materials of the genus Vulpia and the relevant literature this genus was recognized as possessing five species and four subspecies occurring in Iran. The novelties of this study for the flora of Iran are: describing one new taxon: V. unilateralis subsp. tomentosa; reporting one new record for the flora of Iran: V. ciliata subsp. plumosa; and literature correction of V. ciliata Dumort. and accepting the correct Name “Vulpia unilateralis (L.) Stace” for “Nrdurus maritimus (L.) Murb.” for the floar of Iran.

Recent molecular phylogenetic investigations support the inclusion of Eremostachys in Phlomoides although the generic name Eremostachys is still widely in use. This paper presents an updated taxonomic revision and re-circumscription of the genus in Iran. A key to the Iranian taxa is given. For each taxon, a complete list of synonyms, notes on nomenclature and affinities, geographical distribution, ecology, habitat, phenology, IUCN conservation status assessment, and a selection of specimens studied are provided. According to this treatment, 17 species of Phlomoides occur in Iran; of which 16 were previously in Eremostachys; four species are endemic.

Cerasus paradoxa is described and illustrated as a new species endemic to Lorestan province, in the west of Iran. It is similar, and most closely related to C. microcarpa and C. yazdiana. The diagnostic morphological characteristics, as well as a full description, taxonomic status and figure of the new species are presented.

Recently, after studying a collected specimen from Tonekabon, it was determined as Hierochloa odorata. This is the first report of the genus from Iran. Morphological characters, habitat, geographical distribution in the world and Iran is presented.

This article is a taxonomic review after Flora Iranica concerning some species of Bromus sect. Bromus. Comparing the holotype, isotype and paratype of B. pseudobrachystachys with the lectotype of B. brachystachys and also reexamination of three Iranian and Iraqi herbarium sheets putatively determined under the latter’s name showed all belong to the former. B. racemosus, B. arvensis and B. secalinus are confirmed to occur in Iran. Despite B. tigridis was identified from Turkey based on the sheet Sorger & Buchner 82-62-54, the Iranian specimen was identified as B. racemosus. Furthermore, a new record of this section i.e., B. macrocladus is reported here from mountains of Razi village (W Khoy, NW Iran).

Cousinia olivieri DC., a species with unknown origin is located and lectotypified. Regarding the morphological similarities observed between C. olivieri and species distributed mainly in southern Turkey, and the absence of any relevant material from Iran, it is concluded that the type material of the species must be from Turkey, not Iran. Cousinia cirsioides Boiss. & Balansa, a narrow endemic of S Turkey is here reduced as a synonym of C. olivieri.

Medicago biflora (Griseb.) E. Small and Trigonella tenuis Fisch., two new records of the tribe Trifolieae (Fabaceae) from Iran, are redescribed. M. biflora and T. tenuis belong to M. sect. Lunatae Boiss. and T. sect. Bucerates Boiss., respectively. The former species is closely related to M. brachycarpa (Fisch.) Moris. and the latter to T. persica Boiss.

Phylogenetic relationships among 30 species of sect. Onobrychoidei and some related sections are investigated using nrDNA ITS and morphological data. Based on Maximum Parsimony and Bayesian analyses the morphological characters are useful at the sectional level but not at lower taxonomic ranks. Astragalus sect. Onobrychoidei at the current status is not monophyletic. Some members of the section are well intermixed with members of related sections. Another species of the section, A. oligoflorus, is well allied with species of the sect Erioceras at the base of the resulting phylogenetic trees. Analyses confirmed that debatable species A. goktschaicus and A. scapiger are belonging to the sect. Onobrychoidei. A. huthianus (of sect. Craccina) was also placed within sect. Onobrychoidei and it should be classified as a member of latter section.

Achene micro-morphology of 17 species of Taraxacum (Asteraceae) is investigated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). In this study 12 qualitative and quantitative characters such as achene length, width and colour, ornamentation type and size, length of beak, length and colour of pappus were examined. Cluster Analysis (CA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of data showed that micromorphology of achene has significant role in separating species from each other and it does support the delimitation at sectional level. Our results showed that ornamentation on achene body cannot be used in separation of taxa at species level as well as sectional rank, whereas ornamentation size showed to be a better tool for separation of species. Since fruit micromorphology provides some evidences for delimitation of species and sections, the results then were compared with the phylogenetic trees obtained from Maximum Parsimony (MP) and the Bayesian analysis (BA) of the nrDNA ITS region. Our results showed that current taxonomic system of the genus Taraxacum is not compatible with its phylogeny.

The nutlet micromorphology of thirteen species of Nepeta was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Two main patterns i.e. reticulate and indistinct reticulate are described. Both patterns are of smooth type. Reticulate type is found in both Kashmir and Ladakh regions of the study area and indistinct reticulate type is exclusively confined to cold desert region of Ladakh. The nutlets of N. govaniana are largest and that of N. raphanorhiza are smallest among the species studied. Out of 13 studied species, 11 belong to reticulate type and 2 belong to indistinct reticulate. Only smooth pattern is found in our species and no sculptured pattern is recognised.

Pollen grains and seed morphology of nine taxa from Papaver L. genus belonging to section Meconidium were examined by using light and scanning electron microscopy and their taxonomic significance evaluated. The basic shape of pollen grains in most studied taxa is prolate – spheroidal, but suboblate and oblate – spheroidal pollen grains also have been seen. The grains are tricolpate and their surface is microechinate. Seeds are reniform; the shape of epidermal cells is polygonal or rectangular and anticlinal walls of epidermal cells are mostly sinuate, rarely straight. Our results revealed that palynogical data are not of much taxonomic significance in separation of taxa, whereas differences in seed characteristics among the taxa are valuable in separating taxa at specific and infraspecific levels in the section. Also, during taxonomical studies of the genus, we found a new variety which is described as P. persicum subsp. persicum var. glabrum. P. persicum subsp. microcarpum (Boiss.) Kadereit is recorded here for the first time from W. Iran. Moreover, two new hybrids are recognized in Iran: 1) P. persicum × P. armeniacum, 2) P. armeniacum subsp. armeniacum × subsp. pilgerianum. For these taxa, taxonomical characteristics, localities, identification key and geographical distributions are given.

Pollen grains of 13 species of the genus Rosa belonging to two subgenera, Rosa and Hulthemia, and one hybrid species were performed using light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The basic shape of pollen grains in 11 studied taxa is subprolate but prolate and rarely prolate- spheroidal pollen grains also can be found in nine species. The grains are usually trizonocolporate, aperture structure consists of 3 ectocolpi and 3 endopores. Endopores are located in the middle part of ectocolpi. Similar to the other genera of Rosaceae, striate sculpturing is the main ornamentation of pollen grains. According to surface sculpturing features such as slope, diameter and distance between ridges, number and size of perforations is classified into four major types and four subordinate types; however, other ornamentation types such as gemmate are observed. Characters of pollen grain provide useful criteria for separating taxa in sectional and specific levels.

Fumaria (Papaveraceae) comprises 8 annual species with medicinal and weed importance in Iran. Numerical study of 40 accessions of 6 species of this genus in Iran was studied by using 38 qualitative and quantitative morphological features. Banding patterns of seed storage proteins using sodium dodecylsulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) with extract of bulked seeds of some Fumaria species of Iran as: F. parviflora, F. vaillantii, F. asepala & F. indica has been studied. The results showed that despite morphological observations the two very similar and sympatric species, F. parviflora and F. vaillantii, are not closely related due to their SDS profiles. F. vaillantii showed more similarity in seed storage proteins to F. asepala and F. indica. The intermediate position for F. indica is in concordant with its proposed progenitor as: F. asepala and F. parviflora. Electophoretic results are compared with morphological studies.

In this study, seed micro-morphology of eight species of Stellaria and two of its closest relatives were examined by scanning electron microscope. High variation was found in seed coat micromorphology and four distinc cell patterns were observed. Shape of testa cells is defined as elongated polygonal, broad polygonal, interlaced polygonal and irregular polygonal. The variation in ornamentation of testa cells as well as their size and shape may provide useful diagnostic characters for separating taxa at the generic and specific level. Seeds of the Myosoton aquaticum are reniform with rounded polygonal cells that are convex on the surface, having papillae on outer periclinal walls and V-shape anticlinal walls. This cell pattern is very similar to Stellaria media and S. pallida. Seeds shape of Mesostemma are cubical-spherical and the surface of seeds are arranged in irregular polygonal cell, irregular zip-shape margin and corrugated in periclinal wall. These are very different with exomorphology of the seeds of the Stellaria species. Seed micro-morphological data suggest that Myosoton aquaticum belongs to Stellaria and is better to be included as a synonym of it, but this data provides some support at least for the separation of Mesostemma kotschyanum from Stellaria.

The algal flora of 5 stations from paddy-fields of Golestan province was investigated between October 2006 and September 2007. In this study 10 interesting filamentous heterocystous Nostocacean morphospecies, recorded for paddy fields of Iran. Among these taxa Nostoc verrucosum Voucher ex Born.et Flah, N. comminutum Kützing, N. hatei Dixit, Anabaena mendotae Trelease, A. aphanizomenoides Fortit, Trichormus anomalus (F. E. Fritsch) Komarek & Anagnostidis, T. fertilisimus (C. B. Rao) Komarek & Anagnostidis, are reported as seven new records from Iran. These taxa described based on their morphology and ecology.

Species separation in the family Characeae is generally based on morphological characters, but these traits used to identify species are influenced by habitat characteristics. The green algal genus Chara Linnaeus comprises of several species, which are morphologically variable. RAPD-PCR technique was used to characterize genetic diversity in three Chara L. species collected from Iran. Five primers were used in this study. Different loci were detected using a total of 17 samples of Chara vulgaris L., C. gymnophylla A. Braun and C. zeylanica C. L. Willdenow. The present study is the first on the molecular characterization of these species using RAPD-PCR marker in Iran. The method seems to be suitable for characterization of the genus at species level.

The geographic distribution of the Fabaceae (except the genus Astragalus L.) has been analyzed to have insights about the distribution pattern of this family as an approach for a better conservation policymaking. In doing so, we used a dataset of 10498 geo-referenced observations from Iran. Species richness, endemic species, weighted endemism and corrected weighted endemism were mapped in 1° x 1° latitude/longitude grids using ArcView and DIVA-GIS software. Iran was divided into 196 grid cells and of these, 173 grid cells had at least one record each. The highest endemic species values were observed in a grid cell located in Tehran province, which also possessed high species richness and even the highest weighted endemism values. But high values for corrected weighted endemism were obtained from grid cells located in the North East of Iran (mostly from Razavi Khorasan province). Species with very small documented distribution area (one grid cell only) were distributed in North and North West (West and East Azerbaijan provinces) of Iran and along the Zagros mountain range. In this study, seven regions with conservation importance were identified which can be compared with the present protected areas.