Evaluation and comparison of leaf and seed morphological characteristics of hornbeam species in two long regions of Kordkoy and Hezar Jerib (Estakhr posht) of Neka Mazandaran

The present study evaluates the morphological characteristics of leaves and seeds to more easily identify the species of Carpinus betulus, C. schuschaensis and C. orientalis. Morphological and physiological characteristics are always influenced by climatic and ecological factors; hornbeam trees also change in their appearance due to their wide distribution, which makes it a little difficult to quickly identify the species. For the conservation and basic management of habitats of this species, accurate identification of species, recognition of ecological needs, and study of its genetic diversity seems useful.

Sampling of hornbeam leaves and seedlings from two regions of Kordkoy, Derazno and Neka, Hezar Jarib was done randomly from 5 individuals of Carpinus betulus, C. schuschaensis and C. orientalis species that were at least 100 meters apart. Morphological traits studied in leaf was as follows: leaf length (AL), leaf width (WL), distance from the widest part of the leaf to the base (WPL), number of teeth (NT), beak length (DB), beak width (WB), number of teeth in 2 cm (NT 2cm), maximum leaf width (MWL), petiole length (PL), number of veins (VN), width in 0.1 leaf length (W0.1), width at 0.9 leaf length (W0.9), leaf area (LA), the ratio of leaf length to leaf width -leaf shape(LS), the ratio of leaf length to the widest part of the leaf to the base (AL/WPL), the ratio of the widest part of the leaf to the base to the length of the petiole (WPL/PL). Also, the morphological traits in seeds were including total weight of seeds (TW), outer shell weight (WS), seed kernel weight (BW), seed length (A), and seed width (W). Traits were measured on a case-by-case basis using calipers and rulers, as well as seed weight using a digital scale with an accuracy of 0.001. Nest statistical design, Duncan test, and principal component analysis (PCA) were used. The distribution of tree trunks in the coordinate axis space, Discriminant analysis, and cluster analysis were also evaluated.

The results of analysis of variance indicated that among the populations, all studied parameters except NT, MWL, TW and BW traits were significantly different from each other. The results of PCA indicate that in seeds 66.7% of the variances in the first component and in leaves 96.69% of the variances in the first four components are justified. The results of cluster analysis showed that the three populations were divided into three separate groups (clusters). The results of diagnostic analysis showed that NT 2cm, PL, LS, AL / WPL, TW, WS and BW are the distinguishing traits of the three species.

In terms of simple identification, hornbeam seeds do not differ significantly in terms of dimensions, but in terms of leaves, Carpinus betulus are the largest, C. orientalis is the smallest and C. schuschaensis species is intermediate species. Morphological studies of this study confirm the independence of Carpinus betulus, C. schuschaensis and C. orientalis species due to complete separation of traits. However, it may be possible that C. schuschaensis to be a hybrid.