تاكسونومي عددي گونه‎هاي جنس شبدر بخش Vesicaria در ايران

Numerical taxonomy of Trifolium Species in Iran (Vesicaria section)

The genus Trifolium is considered as one of the largest genera of the Fabaceae family and consists of six section in Iran. The section Vesicaria includes 4 annual species, i. e. T. clusii, T. resupinatum, T.bullatum and T. tomentosum, and 3 perennial species, i.e. T. fragiferum, T. tumens and T. physodes. There are large morphological similarities among the annual species of this section, particularly in fruit stages, shape of upper teeth of the calyx and the corollaʹs shape, which make their separation and identification a challenging task. On the other hand, there is a close relationship between the species of this section and. T. spumosum of the section Mistyllus based on the sources available. Using the science of numerical taxonomy, the present study compares the species of the section Vesicaria with one another and with the species. T. spumosum. A cluster analysis based on single linkage determined 13 principal groups. Populations of the perennial species were placed in separate groups and the populations relating to the species T. spumosum Were placed among the populations of the annual species of the section Vesicaria. It was found that morphological features are capable of separating and identifying populations of the species T. bullatum and T. tomentosum. Taxonomy of the populations based on Principal Components Analysis (PCA) confirmed the results of the cluster analysis. Using the most varying features obtained, a new morphological identification key was prepared by taking into account the species T. spumosum in the section Vesicaria.