JOURNAL OF TAXONOMY AND BIOSISTEMATICS
Year:2018 | Volume:10 | Issue:37|Papers Count:6

Anthemis has 39 annual and perennial herbacius species that 15 species of them are from Iran. Iran has a good distribution of this medicinal plant. In this study, the growth characteristics, essential oil percentage and ecological features of five Anthemis species such as: (A. tinctoria), (A. hyalina), (A. wiedemanniana), (A. pseudocotula) and (A. haussknechtii) were evaluated for the first time, in order to better understand the characteristics of them in Kurdistan province. The collection of species was carried out at flowering time and 14 growth traits along with ecological characteristics of the habitat were studied. The results showed that there is variation in growth characteritics and essential oil percentage among the studied species. A. tinctoria and A. hyaline had the highest growth and yield. Essential oil percentage was from 0. 02 to 0. 15%, most of which was related to A. hyaline (0. 15%) and A. setacea (0. 08%), respectivly. Cluster analysis divided the species into two groups. According to the results of this study, A. hyaline due to the high growth, organs with contains active ingredient, and high amount of essential oil is superior and can be used in pharmaceutical, food and perfumery industry and breeding programs.

Centaurea is one of the most complex and largest genera of the family Asteraceae in the World. It is mainly distributed in Europe, the Mediterranean region, and southwest Asia. This genus is polyphyletic and has recently been divided into some monophyletic genera. In Iran, Centaurea contains 109 species in 31 sections that are present in most parts of the country. This research is the result of exact taxonomic study of species of the section Ammocyanus in different herbaria. During this study, it was found that two syntypes collections were cited for C. patula protologue that one of them is attributed to Iran. However, there is no mention of this species in Flora Iranica and in fact C. patula is a forgotten species for Iranian flora. So, C. patula is treated in this study as an existing taxon for the flora of Iran. To clarify the application of this name, it was thus typified and its lectotype image was presented.

Wetland plants are often the most conspicuous component of wetland ecosystems. They are grouped into hydrophytes, helophytes, and hygrophytes. In this research, the wetlands flora of Hamedan province, including natural and artificial wetlands, permanent and seasonal rivers and streams and wet mountain meadows, were studied. The results of this study showed that the flora of the wetlands of Hamedan province consisted of 45 families, 111 genera and 163 species. And, 13 families of these plants belonged to monocots, 31 families to dicots and 1 family to the pteridophyta. Families of Asteraceae with 15 genera and 20 species; Poaceae with 19 genera and 23 species, Cyperaceae with 8 genera and 19 species were the largest families of wetlands in Hamadan province. In terms of their life forms, the wetland plants of Hamedan province consisted of 8 species of hydrophytes, 51 species helophyte, 35 species of geophytes, 50 species of hemicryptophytes, 14 species of therophytes, 4 species of phanerophytes, and 1 species of chamaephytes. The chorology of species showed that 29 species of the wetland plants of Hamedan Province belonged to the European-Siberian elements, 38 species to the Iranotouranin elements, 1 species to the Mediterranean elements, 24 species to European-Siberian-Iranotouranin elements, 2 species to Euro-Siberian-Mediterranean elements, 3 species to the Mediterranean-Iranotouranin elements, 46 species to more than two elements, and 20 species to cosmopolitan.

This study evaluated the distribution pattern of various life-form spectra along the Moghan-Sabalan rangelands, Ardabil province, Iran. Sampling was conducted in eleven elevation classes at 300 m elevation intervals (100-3300 meters above sea level, masl). In each elevation interval, 30 quadrats (1×1 m) were used to collect vegetation data (density, frequency and canopy cover). To detect significant differences along elevational gradient, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan test were used to compare averages and grouping of the plant index. Regression analyses were employed to explore the inter-relationship of elevation with various life-form spectra. Overall, 386 species, which comprised 44 families and 200 genera, were identified in the study area. Therophytes and hemicryptophytes were the most frequent life form constituted each with respectively 164 and 162 species, while phanerophytes with 3 species were the least frequent form of life. Density, canopy cover, IVI, species richness and diversity of therophytes decreased with elevation, while hemicryptophytes species richness and evenness increased.

Onopordum is one of the extremely armed genus of the family of Asteraceae which is native to the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian regions. This genus comprises 7 species that are distributed in most parts of the country. In spite of 12% of Onopordum species are found in Iran, but few taxonomic studies have been carried out and it seems that there are still unknown species of this genus. For taxonomic study of the genus Onopordum, extensive collection of distribution areas of genus was conducted in Iran. Plant specimens were collected by conventional methods and identified based on reliable sources. As a observations, O. cinereum is reported as a new record from the flora of Iran. It is easily distinguished form the other species of genus in Iran by having densely tomentose-arachnoidwhitish indumentum in throughout the plant especially in the capitula. Finally, a key identification to all species of the genus Onopordum in Iran is presented.

Plants are among the most important units of natural ecosystem that are examined for natural resource management. Therefore, identifying the plant assemblage of each region is very important. The purpose of this study was to identify and introduce the floristic composition, biological form, species status and geographical distribution of plants in Robat Kouh area of Bazoft. According to results, 343 species, 238 genera and 63 families, including the largest families named Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Poaceae, Brassicaceae and Leguminosae having 54, 35, 29, 23 and 22 species, were recognized, respectively. The Astragalus possessing 11 species, Centaurea with 9 species, Silene, Salvia, and Stachys with 6 species, and Allium with 5 species were the largest genera in the region. Hemicryptophytes with 51. 31% had the most abundant biological forms followed by therophytes with 23. 03%, cryptophytes with 13. 41%, phanerophytes with 5. 83%, and chasmophyte with 5. 54%. In terms of geographical distribution, Iranian-Turonian elements had the highest number of species (66. 18%) and other species belonged to two, three or more geographical areas. Conservation of plant elements was classified according to the principles of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), with 45 species in the low-risk class, 2 species in the vulnerable class, and 3 species in the endangered class. There was insufficient information about 6 species. Moreover, there were 45 endemic Iranian and 158 medicinal species. The results showed the importance of the plant species and the richness of the flora of the region.