THE IRANIAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
Year:2013 | Volume:19 | Issue:1 (37)|Papers Count:20

A critical taxonomic synopsis of the genusOxytropis DC. is provided. In this work, 42 species recognized in Flora Iranica is reduced to 38 distinct species, 16 species are synonymyzed. A part of the new synonyms belongs to Astragalus, viz. A. ciceropsis Hamzehee & Maassoumi (=Oxytropis strausii Bornm.), A. podocarpus C. A. Mey. (= O. thaumasiomorphaRech. f.), A. longirostratus Pau (=O. alavae Rech. f.), A. singarensis Boiss. & Hausskn. (=O. wendelboiVassilcz. p.p.), A. daenensis Boiss. (=O. kermanica Vassilcz. p.p; O. pussilloides Vassilcz. p.p.), A. aestivorumPodlech (=O. kermanica Vassilcz. p.p.). The remainder of synonyms are O. glabra (Lam.) DC. (=O.sorkhehensisRanjbar), O. kopetdaghensis Gontsch. (=O. assadliensis Vassilcz.), O. hirsutiuscula Freyn (=O. caraganetorumVassilcz.), O. sojakii Vassilcz. (=O. lalehzarensis Vassilcz.), O. iranica Vassilcz. (=O. zangolehensisVassilcz.), O. persica Boiss. (=O. takhti-soleimanii Vassilcz.); O. aucheri Boiss. (=O. mazandaranensisVassilcz.) and. O. binaludensis Vassilcz. (=O. khorasanica Ranjbar; O. gracillima Vassilcz.); O. ChrysocarpaBoiss. (=O. shirkuhi Vassilcz., O. surmmandehi Vassilcz.). Eleven new species are described as follows: Oxytropis shahvarica Maassoumi, O. pseudosuavis Maassoumi, O. kordkoyensis Maassoumi, O. compacta Maassoumi & Joharchi, O. salukensis Maassoumi, O. sabzavarensis Maassoumi, O. bakhtiarica Maassoumi, O. javaherdehiMaassoumi, O. sivehensis Maassoumi & Amini Rad, O. indurata Maassoumi, O. mahneshanensis Maassoumi. Oxytropis lupinoides is reported as a new record for the Iranian territory, a new combination, A. yezdii (Vassilcz.) Podlech & Maassoumi (=O. yezdii Vassilcz.; A. abditus Podlech) is presented and. O. rudbariensis Vassilcz. is considered as a doubtful species which need more complete material and more investigations. The occurence ofO. czapandaghii Boriss. in Iran is not confirmed. Two keys corresponding to flowering and fruiting materials are given. All specimens examined in the present work are deposited in FUMH, IRAN, TARI and TUH.

Hedysarum vanenseHedge & Hub.-Mor. is recorded from Northwest of Iran, Urmia. It belongs to Hedysarum sect. Hedysarum (=Obscura). The new record is taxonomically isolated among the known species of Iran. The species is characterized by the stipitate lomentum of 1-3 flattened broad elliptic segments with reticulate nervation and short hairs. The description and the illustration of the new record are presented.

Arenaria semiromicafrom Isfahan province, A. assadii and A. longibracteata both from Azerbaijan province belong to the family Caryophyllaceae are described as new species from Iran. New key for the genusArenaria in Iran, tables for comparison between the new species and the closest taxa, descriptions and illustrations are given in this paper.

Agrostis garianais described as a new species to the science from Lorestan province, Iran. The new species is closely related to A. canina from Sect. Agraulus. A. vinealis, as an Irano- Turanian element from Sect. Agraulus, is a new record for the flora of Iran. These species are compared with the closely related species and their distribution data and illustrations are provided.

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Cerastium brachypetalum Pers. subsp. iranicum (Caryophyllaceae) is described as a new subspecies from West Iran.It belongs to the subgenusCerastium section Orthodon. Morphological characteristics, as well as a full description and distribution of the new taxon are provided. This taxon is compared with the other subspecies of Cerastium brachypetalumand with its close relative species. Ultrastructure of seed and pollen was examined by SEM.

In review of specimens gathered from northern and eastern slopes of Sabalan Mountains wetlands (NW Iran), interesting specimens belonging to Carex L. genus was collected out of which, one specimen was determined as Carex diandraSchrank which is the first report for the Flora of Iran. Some interesting species of the genus has been also collected which are included herewith. The species has been compared with the nearby species. In addition, morphological characters, geographical distribution in the world and Iran is also presented.

Festuca karatavica (Bunge) B. Fedtsch. (subgen. Xanthochloa) is reported as a new species and subgenus record for the flora of Iran from Binalood mountain range in Khorassan. This species is morphologically compared with its closely related species ofFestuca subgen. Leucopoa in Iran. Illustration, distribution map and notes on biogeography, conservation status and habitats are provided.

The genusQuercus L. (Fagaceae) is one of the most diversified groups of temperate trees with more than 500 species distributed worldwide.Quercus section Quercus, the white oaks, has the greatest number of species and has the widest distribution occurring in Asia, Europe, North Africa, and North and Central America. Oak species with lobed leaves in the Zagros forests belong to the sect. Quercus. In previous regional taxonomic accounts, Djavanchir and Menitsky identified six and two taxa of sect. Quercus in Zagros forests, respectively. We studied a great number of specimens of white oaks from the Zagros forests and assigned them to previously described taxa. Then we compared them to digital images of type specimens provided by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and National Botanic Garden of Belgium. Twenty-three qualitative and quantitative characters of leaves and acorns were examined. Cluster Analysis (CA) of data showed that morphology of leaves, micro-morphology of foliar trichomes in combination with acorn morphology are valuable in species distinction. In addition, our results showed that foliar trichomes have little value in separation of taxa at species level, whereas leaf shape proved to be a better tool for discrimination of species. According to the observations and our findings, the following taxa of white oaks with lobate leaves exist in the Zagros forests: Quercus robur L. subsp. pedunculiflora (K. Koch) Menitsky, Q. robur L. subsp. robur, Q. petraea subsp. pinnatiloba (K. Koch) Menitsky and Q. infectoria subsp. veneris (A. Kern.) Meikle. Q. robur L. subsp. robur and Q. petraea subsp. pinnatiloba (K. Koch) Menitsky are reported as new records for the flora of Iran.

This study concerns taxonomic status and the distinctness of Pistacia taxa occurring in Iran. Regarding different taxonomic treatments based only on the leaf morphological traits in this study IRAP marker was sued in order to evaluate relationships and distinctness among the putative Pistacia taxa in Iran. A number of 16 geographical and morphological representative OTUs out of 383 collected and herbarium samples were subjected both to IRAP study and root-tip chromosome counting. The resulted data were analyzed using both phonetics and cladistics methods.Based on the results of this study and also literature review we concluded and suggested that the genusPistacia in this country includes three cytodemes resulted from aneuploidy. These are to be justified based on the taxonomic concept of species.

Mitotic chromosome numbers of 5 taxa of the genus Persicaria (L.) Mill. is reported for Iran for the first time.Subspecies of P. lapathifolia showed 2n=22 chromosome number supporting the earlier report while the chromosome numbers of P. minor and P. mitis are 2n=40. Results are compared with previous records.

Superficial similarity between narrow-leaved species of the genus Festuca L. was lead to using the cryptic characters such as anatomical traits for taxonomic aims. Structure and arrangement of sclerenchyma tissue and the number of veins as seen in leaf cross sections were found as being significant diagnostic features in some species aggregates in the genusFestuca. In total 53 selected accessions of Festuca species collected around the country, types and herbarium specimens housed in Natural History Museum Vienna (W), University of Vienna (WU), Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin (B), Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (TARI), Herbarium of the University of Isfahan (HUI), Tehran University Herbarium (TUH) and Herbarium of H. Akhani were studied.In this investigation, nearly all reported narrow-leaved species of the Iranian members of the genusFestuca including F. alaica, F. skvortsovii, F. rubra, F. chalcophaea, F. sabalanica, F. rechingeri, F. akhanii, F. varia, F. transcaucasica, F. valesiaca, F. elwendiana and F. rupicola which some of them are endemic were investigated and an identification key was made. The results of this study confirmed synonymy of F. bornmulleri and F. ovina subsp. kotschyifor F. alaica, also showed that there are no F. ovina s. str., F. pinifolia and F. heterophylla growing in the borders of Iran.

In the present study, Onosma discedens Hausskn. & Bornm., Onosma tenuiflora Willd., Onosma aucheriana DC., Onosma roussaeiDC., Onosma rigida Ledeb. and Onosma trapezuntea Boiss. & A.Huet ex Hand.-Mazz. were examined by light microscopy (LM) in terms of stem and leaf anatomy. The anatomical characters were numerically analyzed by cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Although general stem and leaf anatomical traits are very similar, some anatomical characters such as the ratio of cortex/diameter of stem and phloem/xylem, the average row number of collenchyma, palisade and spongy cells, and stomata index are more important for delimiting the investigated taxa. These results indicated that anatomical features would be useful in separating the examined species.

Opegrapha pulvinataRehm (Roccelaceae, Ascomycetes) a lichenicolous fungus growing on Dermatocarpon miniatum, is reported from Iran for the first time.

Palynological and anatomical features of 11 species from NE Iran belonging to Acanthophyllum sect. Oligosperma were carried out and evaluated by numerical methods to determine the taxonomic value of endomorphic characters.The cross section of stems, peduncles and leaves were prepared and stained with Safranin and Fast-green and pollen morphology has been examined by light and scanning electron microscope. The principal component analysis and Cluster Analysis results showed that the type of stomata, shape and size of epidermal cells, trichomes, the number of epidermal cells and stomata, the shape of stem cross section, arrangment of xylem elements in peduncle, arrangment of mesophyll in leaf and the number of sclerenchymatous layers are significant to separating species. The pollen grains were spheroid, pantoporate, ornamentation was scabrate-punctate and exine structure was spinulose-punctate.

From the Kashmir Himalaya, the Irises have been little investigated taxonomically. As a result of this, the species richness of irises reported from this region has been numerically variable and taxonomically confusing. In view of this, the present study has been undertaken to work out the taxonomy of Iris L. in this Himalayan region. A taxonomic account of fourteen (14) species of Iris recorded in the Kashmir Himalaya has been provided. Updated nomenclature, with basionym and synonyms (if any), description, altitudinal range, distribution pattern and colored illustration of the Iris species in the region is provided. The species: Iris japonica, I versicolor and I. hollandica are three new species records for the study area.

The geographical distribution of the genusCousinia in Iran has been analyzed using a dataset of 3095 georeferenced observations. The 241 species of the genus are distributed throughout Iran. However, about third of the observations are made from provinces like, Khorasan Razavi, Tehran, and Fars. The genus has 135 rare species and 197 endemic species. The maximum distance between two observations of the same species, (MaxD) is 1863 kilometers. Razavi Khorasan, Lorestan, Esfahan, North Khorasan and Tehran have the highest number of rare species. Species richness was mapped with the point-to-grid richness analysis tool DIVA-GIS, using a 10×10 kilometer grid cell and the circular neighborhood option with a 50 km radius. High species richness occurs in large area in North of Semnan province, Dena Mountains, Central Alborz, Lorestan province, NW Iran and also in Kopet Dagh Mountain in Khorasan where the hotspots for endemic species are located. Forty five 0.5o×0.5o grid cells are needed to capture all species at once, which have the most conservative importance for this group of plants.