The Taxonomy and Variation of Leaf Anatomical Characters in the Genus Aegilops L. (Poaceae) in Iran

摘要

This study concerns the evaluation of leaf anatomical characters (7 qualitative and 12 quantitative characters) among 26 accessions of the Aegilops I. species. The results of this study showed that the anatomical characters have high variation in thewidth of stomata, the number of long cells in the adaxial epidermis, the number of short cells in the abaxial epidermis, the number of stomata in the abaxial epidermis, the occurrence of prickles in the adaxial epidermis, and the width of phloem cells. The variations in anatomical characters were related to the cold and warm areas of Iran and commonly occurred among the tetraploid species. The indumentum and length of hairs in the epidermis, the occurrence and length of prickles in the epidermis, the width of sclerenchyma strands, and the number of stomata were found to be distinguishing characters among the species and of taxonomic value. Finally, Ae. columnaris Zhuk. is separated from both Ae. umbellulata Zhuk. and Ae. triuncialis L. whereas Ae. speltoides Tausch. can be considered a species different from Ae. triuncialis.