Morphological study of the genus Prosopis (Fabaceae) In Iran

In this project morphology of different parts of plants and pollen grains of P. koelziana Burkart, P. farcta (Sollander ex Russell) Mac bride, P. juliflora DC. and P. cineraria Druce species are studied. The aim of this study was to clarify the species relationships of this genus and to separate the taxa based on morphological features. In total 65 qualitative and quantitative features of 34 populations of 5 taxa (4 species and 2 varieties) were measured and evaluated. Observations carried out using a stereomicroscope as well as light and scanning electron microscopy. Statistical analyses of qualitative and quantitative characters were done by use of SPSS software Ver. 16. WARD cluster analysis and ordination based on principal component analysis (PCA) resulted from Factor analysis, was used to clarify the species relationship. Statistical analysis revealed that three main factors presented most of the observed variations in these populations the most important are vegetative form, inflorescence type, leaflet base, thorn tip shape, thorn type and presence, shoot color, hair presence at shoot and fruit shape. Based on morphological features, an identification key was prepared for Prosopis species present in Iran. Pollen morphological study of the genus showed that pollen is monad, tri-colporate and prolate. Diagnostic value of pollen features in Prosopis species of Iran is discussed.