LEAF ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE OF IRANIAN NARROW-LEAVED SPECIES OF THE GENUS FESTUCA L. (POACEAE, POEAE)

Superficial similarity between narrow-leaved species of the genus Festuca L. was lead to using the cryptic characters such as anatomical traits for taxonomic aims. Structure and arrangement of sclerenchyma tissue and the number of veins as seen in leaf cross sections were found as being significant diagnostic features in some species aggregates in the genus Festuca. In total 53 selected accessions of Festuca species collected around the country, types and herbarium specimens housed in Natural History Museum Vienna (W), University of Vienna (WU), Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin (B), Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (TARI), Herbarium of the University of Isfahan (HUI), Tehran University Herbarium (TUH) and Herbarium of H. Akhani were studied. In this investigation, nearly all reported narrow-leaved species of the Iranian members of the genus Festuca including F. alaica, F. skvortsovii, F. rubra, F. chalcophaea, F. sabalanica, F. rechingeri, F. akhanii, F. varia, F. transcaucasica, F. valesiaca, F. elwendiana and F. rupicola which some of them are endemic were investigated and an identification key was made. The results of this study confirmed synonymy of F. bornmulleri and F. ovina subsp. kotschyi for F. alaica, also showed that there are no F. ovina s. str., F. pinifolia and F. heterophylla growing in the borders of Iran