A short glance on leaf anatomy and taxonomy of subfamily Caryophylloideae in Iran

Caryophyllaceae is the fifth largest Iranian plant family in terms of number of species where most of its species are Irano-Turanian. About 30% of these species are endemic of Iran. There are continuously uncertainties regarding the circumscription of genera, and especially because of new molecular and phylogenetic studies that in many cases do not confirm the traditional generic circumscription, the need for tangible traits to distinguish between the genera is felt. Accordingly, in this study, leaves’ anatomical characteristics of some species of Caryophylloideae from Iran have been described. Forty-nine characters (including 16 qualitative and 33 quantitative characters) of leaves’ transverse sections and epidermis have been considered. No anatomical characteristics are constant in all species of the genera, but some of them such as stomatal patterns, limb symmetry, collenchymatous tissue and layers of fiber around the central vascular bundles may be useful to separate some genera. Contemplating morphological and anatomical features, two new combinations and a key for the genera of this subfamily in Iran have been provided. Psammophiliella has been recorded for the first time from Iran.