Pak. J. Bot., 47(6): 2339-2346, 2015.

THE TAXONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF ACHENE MICRO- AND MACROMORPHOLOGY IN CYPERUS L. (CYPERACEAE)

LAMIAA, F. SHALABI1,2*AND MAGDA H. GAZER3

1Department of Biological and Geological Sciences, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Egypt 2Faculty of Science for girls, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia 3Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt *Corresponding author’s e-mail: Flora_lamiaa@yahoo.com

Abstract A data matrix was compiled to accommodate 38 macro- and micro-morphological characters of the achenes recorded comparatively for 12 Cyperus species (with three subspecies) using Light (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The data matrix was analyzed numerically using Jaccard’s coefficient as a similarity measure and the UPGMA clustering method. The recorded characters proved useful in two ways: (i) to delimit the taxa, and (ii) the dendrogram reflected the taxonomic relationships among the 15 taxa. Comparison between the taxonomic arrangement of the 15 taxa and previous classifications is provided.

Key words: Cyperaceae, Cyperus, Achenes, Macromorphology, Micromorphology.