THE IRANIAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
Year:2007 | Volume:13 | Issue:2 (26)|Papers Count:19

A total of 53 species (54 sequence accessions) representing 28 species of the tribe Hedysareae, 5 species of Vicioid clade and 19 species of Galegeae including the two Glycyrrhiza species as outgroups was included in a phylogenetic analysis using nrDNA ITS sequences with maximum parsimony method. The analysis, based on successive reweighting by rescaled consistency index, revealed that Vicioid clade is the first branch followed by Chesneya-Caragana clade and Astragalean clade as successive sisters to Hedysaroid clade. The genus Alhagi is well allied, as the basal most taxon, with the remainder of Hedysaroid clade. Ebenus and Taverniera are each monophyletic and weakly allied taxa. Hedysarum is not monophyletic, its species are dispersed across Hedysaroid clade. Sulla a segregate of Hedysarum forms a well supported monophyletic group with the inclusion of H. humile. The enigmatic genus Eversmannia is allied with Onobrychis clade. Onobrychis itself is not monophyletic due to inclusion of the two Hedysarum species, and Onobrychis subgenus Onobrychis is not monophyletic as well, whereas Onobrychis subgenus Sisyrosema forms a strongly supported clade. In contrast to Onobrychis section Heliobrychis, sections Dendrobrychis and Onobrychis appear not to be each monophyletic. Hedysareae is circumscribed herein to include only Alhagi, Ebenus, Eversmannia, Hedysarum, Onobrychis, Sulla, Taverniera, Coretrodendron and Sartoria.

Muscari kurdicum is described as a new species from Kurdistan (Iran). The new species is close to M. Pseudomuscari, M. azureum and M. coelestre, but differs from them in some characteristics, which are explained in the text.

Among the rich materials collected from different parts of Iran, two new species namely A. karl-heinzii from section Hymenostegis and A. juladakensis from sect. Dissitiflori are described.

Astragalus borujenensis Ranjbar & Maassoumi (Fabaceae) is described from Iran and illustrated in line drawings. It belongs in Astragalus sect. Ammodendron and resembles A. podolobus, from which it differs mainly in its stipe, color and type of pod indumentum and pod arrangement. Seed coat surfaces of A. borujenensis and A. podolobus are displayed in SEM photographs. Also A. filifoliolatus is transferred from A. sect. Onobrychoidei to A. sect. Ammodendron.

Among the rich materials collected from different localities of Ilam province, one new species namely Astragalus mehranensis from section Incani DC. is described as a new species.

The genus Hieracium L. (Asteraceae) has been studied taxonomically in Iran. This paper includes new reports to Iran, new combination and new synonyms. H. ×sintenisii, H. ×pannoniciforme from sect. Praealtina, H. pollichiae from sect. Vulgata and H. echioides subsp. echioides from sect. Echinina are reported for the first time from Iran. H. ×procerigenum is distinguished as a synonym of H. ×auriculoides, and H.×woronowianum is regarded as a synonym of H. ×maschukense. Also H. procerum is reduced into a subspecies of H. echioides.

Duchesnea indica is reported for the first Iran, Caspian forest, Nowshahr area, 170-950 m above s.1. based on the new gathering westernmost distribution of the species extends to Iran as well.

Ludwigia epilobioides Maxim. (Onagraceae) and Oxalis corymbosa DC. (Oxalidaceae) from N Iran are reported as new records for flora of Iran. A comparison between the new records and the closest relatives are discussed.

Haplophyllum Juss. has 30 species in Iran of which 14 taxa are endemic to Iran. The genus has been revised for the Rutaceae Flora of Iran. In this paper H. erythraeum, H. ptilostylum and H. tenue are reported for the first time from Iran.

Soliva pterosperma belongs to the family of Asteraceae and is reported as new genus for the flora of Iran. This species has been collected from the coastal line of Rudsar and Stile wetland of Astara in Guilan province, Iran. Characteristics, geographical distribution and illustration of this taxon are presented.

Plantago lachnantha Bge. collected from Kerman province is reported as a new record to Iran. This species is compared with closely related species, Plantago evacina Boiss.

Lycium dasystemum Pojark. is reported for the first time from Iran. It was collected from Sange Laki (2000 m high) in Kerman provcnce. This species is distinguished from its close species, L. depressum Stocks, by flower characters.

Melilotus polonicus L. (Papilionaceae), as psammophyte plant on the Caspian coast, is reported as new noteworthy record for the flora of Iran. Apium leptophyllum (Apiaceae), Sisyrinchium exile (Iridaceae) and Tagetes minuta (Asteraceae) are recorded for the first time from Iran/Flora Iranica area. Moreover, the two latter records are the first reports of these genera for the Flora Iranica area. All records were collected in different habitats of Boujagh National Park, the newly founded land-marine National Park in North of Iran. Taxonomic remarks and distribution map for these species are provided.

Artemisia sieberi Besser is distributed in vast steppes of Iran. There are different opinions about the correct name of Iranian steppic Artemisia. Some authors believe that the Iranian specimens are A. sieberi and the others A. herba-alba. Phytochemical studies of 34 populations of the species in Iran, A. herba-alba specimens of Spain and A. sieberi specimen of Palestine confirmed that the name of A. sieberi is correct.

In the present study, 28 species of Bromus L. have been investigated based on micromorphological characters of abaxial surface. The lamina of grass leaf blades is divided into costal and intercostal zones. The results of this study showed that the costal zone includes short and long cells and probably hair and prickle and the intercostals zone includes long cells, stomata and hairs. They are similar and constant in all species. But indumentum types are different in species. Also the characters of indumentum have taxonomical value and can be used in distinguishing of species.

Cross sections of petioles in 24 species of Astragalus Sect. Incani has been studied for a comparison of anatomical characters based on phylogeny in this section. The characters which employed in this study are as follows: Numbers of parenchymatous cell layers in pith, number of bundles, length of ventral axis, length of dorsiventral axis, diameter of ventral latéral vascular bundle (VLB) and diameter of dorsal médian bundle (DMB). Furthermore the evolutionary direction in anatomical characters (character polarity) is studied. The results reveal that anatomical characters are not useful for circumscribing section but are suitable evidences for taxonomical differentiation in species in this section and can be use for delimiting small natural groups. Moreover, they are helpful characters for determining some complexes in this section.

In this checklist 62 species of marine green algae (Chlorophyta) are reported from Iranian coastal lines of Persian Gulf and Oman Gulf. This list represents a summary of 9 scietific papers published over a period of 159 years. The scientific name of the taxa are checked by www.algaebase.org designed by M. Guiry. Total number of Iranian green algae from 23 species in Basson checklist and from 42 species for all areas of the Persian Gulf are increased to 62 species in present chechlist. Caulerpa brachypus, Caulerpa scalpellformis, Codium fragile and Halimeda discoidea are new records for Persian Gulf and Oman Gulf.

During the bryophyte floristic study of northern Tehran, spore morphology of 15 moss species belonging to families Amblystegiaceae, Brachytheciaceae, Encalyptaceae, Funariaceae, Grimmiaceae, Mniaceae, Orthotrichaceae, and Pottiaceae were examined and photographed by scanning electron microscopy. Spore shape of all the studied species was spheroid. The spore size was ranging from 7.50 (±0.06) × 8.07 (±0.06) mm in Schistidium flaccidum to 35.84 (±3.67) × 37.51 (±4.55) mm in Encalypta intermedia. No sulcus was detected on the exine surface of the examined species. Based on surface ornamentation, the spores were divided into six following types: verrucate, scabrate-gemmate, gemmate, pilate, retipilate and rugulate. The examined mosses species are belonging to two habitat types: saxicolous type and terrestrial type. The taxonomical and ecological implications of the spore morphology of the species were discussed.