Fruit and seed morphology of the tribe Orobancheae (Orobanchaceae) genera in Turkey and its Taxonomic Significance
7 July 2015
Zare, GolshanSeed and fruit morphology of four genera: Cistanche, Diphelypaea, Orobanche and Phelipanche, native to Turkey were studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. In this study 100 accessions belong to 40 species were investigated. Fruit of the genera in Orobancheae were loculicidal capsule, generally dehiscing with 2 slits. Seeds in this tribe were small and with reticulate ornamentation. The basic shape of seeds in most of studied taxa was oblongoid, ellipsoid to ovoid, globose or subglobose. Our results indicated that characters such as size, shape and color of the seeds were useless for identification of the taxa in species level. However, anticlinal wall pattern and periclinal wall ornamentation proved useful tools to identification of the genera and discriminating four morphological types; smooth, perforate, microfibrillar and granulate. Type I corresponds to the genus Cistanche and Orobanche anatolica from the genus Orobanche, whereas types II, III and IV devoted to Diphelypaea, Orobanche and Phelipanche respectively. The systematic utility of seed characteristics is discussed in order to determine relationships between inter and intra generic levels among studied taxa.