M. Mahmoodi Shamsabadi, H.Ejtehadi1, J.Vaezi, M. R.Joharchi
"Cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to investigate the differences among species of Acanthophyllum sect. Oligosperma in Khorassan provinces (NE Iran). In this study, a total of 60 including 32 quantitative and 28 qualitative characters were examined on 98 herbarium specimens. The results explained morphological treats are useful to discriminate taxa. Phenogram and scatter gram displayed four distinct groups among samples which suggest four series for this section in NE Iran. These series are agreement with previous series considered for this section in Flora of USSR. In addition, here, a new series named “Speciosa” is introduced for the first time for the Flora of Iran. Our analysis didn’t provide any distinguishing pattern between A. squarrosum Boiss., and A. heratense Schiman-Czeika, and also between A. pachystegium Rech. f. A. adenophorum Freyn, and A. lilacinum Schischk. It seems more detailed morphological study in field and molecular analysis could solve the problem of theses complexes."
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