Morphological evaluation of genetic diversity of wild populations of some Rumex ‎species in Iran ‎

The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of 14 populations of five species of Rumex, including R. chalepensis, R. kandavanicus, R. pulcher, R. crispus and R. tuberosus from Ardabil and Khorasan Razavi provinces using morphological traits. The studied traits included leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves per plant, aerial fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, phenol and antioxidants. Studies of morphological and phytochemical traits on farm and greenhouses showed that the highest coefficient variation for morphological traits related to aerial fresh and dry weight and number of leaves per plant, while the lowest coefficient variation related to the leaf length. In addition, the highest coefficient variation related to chlorophyll b and phenol and the lowest related to chlorophyll a. Also, the results of mean comparison of morphological traits under farm and greenhouse conditions showed that there was a significant difference between different species of Rumex and different populations within each species in the farm, however, there was a significant difference between different species in the greenhouse only in leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves per plant, aerial fresh and dry weight, phenol and antioxidants. In general, phenol and antioxidants were higher in R. crispus than in other species, however, R. tuberosus showed lower values ​​in all morphological and phytochemical traits compared to other species.