Numerical taxonomic study of the genus Crotalaria L. (Crotalarieae, Fabaceae) in Nigeria

Numerical taxonomic study of the genus Crotalaria L. in Nigeria was conducted to identify and differentiate some of the species of the genus Crotalaria using numerical taxonomy based on quantitative and qualitative characters. Field work was conducted, where different species were collected and analyzed using multivariate analysis. The results showed that all the collected species are distinct at Euclidian distance of 0.41 in the cluster analysis with Cophenetic correlation (r)=0.964. The ordination analysis based on the results of the PCA, separated the specimens into 7 groups corresponding to the result of cluster analysis. The first two components of the PCA account for 81.5%. The length of petiole, width of leaflet and length of fruit contributed more to showing delimitation among the species.

A numerical taxonomic study of the family Zygophyllaceae from Egypt

A systematic study of 29 taxa belonging to 7 genera of subfamilies Balanitoideae, Zygophylloideae, Peganoideae, Tribuloideae, Seetzenioideae and Tetradiclidoideae of Zygophyllaceae from Egypt was carried out by means of numerical analysis based on sixty-one morphological characters, including vegetative parts, pollen grains and seeds. On the basis of UPGMA clustering and PCO analysis, six main groups are recognized. Representatives of these groups are clustered together based on characters with high factor loadings in the PCO analysis. The results indicate that Zygophyllaceae are heterogeneous, including Peganum harmala which has been proposed to belong in a separate family. Zygophylloideae, Tribuloideae, Tetradiclidoideae and Seetzenioideae are the most homogeneous groups. Sections and groups in both Tribulus and Fagonia seem artificial.

Taxonomy of the New World species of Lotus (Leguminosae: Loteae)

The aims of the present study were to elucidate the relationships of the New World Lotus species groups, subgenera Acmispon Raf. (sections Microlotus Benth. and Simpeteria Ottley), Hosackia Benth. and Syrmatium Vog., and to compare these results with previous classifications and recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic hypotheses. A numerical taxonomic study using unweighted pair-group arithmetic average clustering was performed. The phenogram was generated from 34 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) × 41 characters (four vegetative characters and the basic chromosome numbers, 16 epidermal traits and 20 reproductive characters). The epidermal microcharacters (epidermal cells, stomata, stomatal index and trichomes) are described and summarised for 18 species of Hosackia and Syrmatium, and the remaining characters were derived from the literature. Phenetic results resolved four groups of species which coincide with the new genera Acmispon, Hosackia Douglas ex Benth., Ottleya D.D.Sokoloff and Syrmatium proposed, having taken into consideration the most recent morphological and phylogenetic hypotheses.