A Morphometric Study of Rhamnus Cathartica and Rhamnus Pallasii in North of Iran

The current morphometric research was conducted collecting Rhamnus cathartica and Rhamnus pallasii from the natural habitats in North and West of Iran. In order to clarify the relationships in studied species and understand taxonomicall values, 58 morphological characters were employed (26 quantititative and 32 qualitative characters) using numerical taxonomy, Principal Component Analysis (CPA), and cluster analysis. In this study, leaf shape, color fruit have been found to significantly contribute to the determination of the studied species (Rhamnus pallasii & Rhamnus cathartica). The results confirmed more diversity in Rh. pallasii and three sub-species. But, in Rh. Cathartica, diversity features in the two varieties were not effective. Rh. × spathulifolia were collected from sandy hill of North of Iran which was determined by morphometric features e.g., leaflet, abaxial, adaxial leaflet trichrome, and fruit color. Overall, Rh. × spathulifolia can not be considered.