Abdel Aleem Bello (1) and Aline Batch*(1)
(1). Plant Biology Department, Faculty of Science, University of Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Aline Batch, E-Mail: alinebatch@hotmail.com, Tel: 0944826295)
Received: 29/09/2022 Accepted: 22/02/2023
Abstract:
This study aimed to inventory and classify Erodium L’Herit species spread in Aleppo, and it relied on macro and micromorphological characteristics such as the general shape and characteristics of leaves, flowers, fruits, mericarps, seeds and pollen grains. The number of studied traits was 69, including 33 quantitative and 36 qualitative. Numerical cluster analysis was done using R software and K-means clustering algorithm. Seven species have been classified: E. cicutarium, E. acaule, E. moschatum, E. deserti, E. ciconium, E. malacoides, and E. subtrilobum, all of which belong to the subgenus. Barbata Boiss. The carpel foveoles were non-glandular in E. cicutarium and E. acaule, while it was clearly glandular in the other five species. The carpel foveoles were surrounded by furrows in all species except E. ciconium. The furrows were non-glandular in E. cicutarium, E. acaule and E. subtrilobum, and glandular in E. moschatum and E. deserti and E. malacoides. The study of pollen showed the similarity of the studied species in the shape of the grains and differences in the dimensions of the polar axis P and the equatorial diameter E. The seeds of the studied species were similar in dimensions and were all oblanceolate with a rounded apex, except for the seeds of E. ciconium which had the largest length of 3.9 mm and had Elliptical shape with truncate top. The results of the numerical analysis showed that the species separated into two clusters, the first included E. cicutarium and E. acaule, while the second separated into two sub-clusters, the first containing E. ciconium alone, and the second containing two groups, the first including E. moschatum and E. deserti, the second included E. malacoides and E. subtrilobum. The study showed that Aleppo is a natural and rich habitat of Erodium species.
Keywords: Erodium, Geraniaceae, Numerical taxonomy, Macromorphology, Micromorphology.
Full paper in Arabic: pdf