Seed Macro- And Micro-Morphology of Some Species Of Kickxia Dumort, Scrophularia L. And Plantago L. From Saudi Arabia

The seed macro- and micro-morphological characters of 13 species belonging to three genera; Kickxia Dumort, Scrophularia L. and Plantago L., collected from different localities of Saudi Arabia, were studied using a Stereomicroscope and Scanning Electron Microscope for evaluating their taxonomic relationships. Three macro-morphological characters of seeds were shape, size, and color while three diagnostic micromorphological characters were seed coat sculpture, the anticlinal and periclinal wall., The seed shape seems to be specific in Plantago L. (peltate, angled) than the two other genera while the color and seed size show little importance. The Plantago L. has a specific rugose sculpture while the other two genera have either tuberculate or alveolate. So Plantago L. was possessed no affinities to Kickxia Dumor or Scrophularia L.. This observation gives extra support to the earlier taxonomic views that suggested the retention of two genera in the traditional family Scrophulariaceae and maintaining Plantago L. in a separate monogeneric family Plantaginaceae Detailed analysis of seed characters of more species is needed to clarify the systematic relationships between the three genera. A key to the identification of studied species based on seed micro- and macro-morphological characters is provide. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 28(2): 385-393, 2021 (December)

Symphyotrichum subulatum (Michx.) G.L.Nesom (Asteraceae): a new distribution record of an alien plant species in Kashmir Himalaya, India

Symphyotrichum subulatum (Michx.) G.L.Nesom (Asteraceae) is reported as a new alien plant record for Kashmir Himalaya. The taxonomic identification of species is confirmed on the basis of shape of involucre, floral and seed characters. Detailed description, distribution map, and comments on distribution and ecology are also provided along with photographic illustration to facilitate easy identification of this species.

GENETIC PARAMETERS IN SEED CHARACTERS OF Ormosia discolor UNDER DIFFERENT AMBIENT CONDITIONS

Ormosia discolor Spruce ex Benth. is a native tree of the Amazon with has fast growth and nodulation capacity, whose seeds are used for craftwork. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters in seed characters of O. discolor at different ambient temperatures and to indicate superior matrices to compose seed lots. Seeds of 20 progenies selected from a population in the state of Amazonas were collected. Three experiments were performed under different ambient temperatures at the Seed Center laboratory/UFAM. Experiment 1 was performed at constant temperature of 30 °C. In experiment 2, seeds were submitted to a temperature of 35 °C. In experiment 3, after five months of freezing, the seeds were submitted to a temperature of 30 °C. The experimental design was completely randomized, consisting of 20 progenies, four replicates, and 25 seeds per plot. The germination characters evaluated were germination rate, mean germination time, and synchronization and speed germination indexes. Genetic and phenotypic variances and correlations, broad-sense heritability, and genetic gain through direct selection were estimated. O.discolor progenies showed significant genetic variability for most of the characters evaluated. High heritability and accuracy values (> 90%) were found for germination rates at all ambient temperatures. Matrices 2, 7, and 16 were superior for germination characters at all temperatures tested, being indicated for seedling production. Eighteen O. discolor seeds are sufficient for biometric analysis with accuracy of 95% in genotype selection.

Fruit and seed micromorphology of the genus Iberis L. (Brassicaceae) in Turkey and its utility in taxonomic delimitation

Background: This paper investigates whether the fruit and seed micromorphology of eight Turkish Iberis (Brassicaceae) species can be used as a further aid in their taxonomic delimitation. Questions: Are the micro-morphological characters of the fruits and seeds of Iberis useful to support the taxonomic delimitation of its species? Studied species / data description /Mathematical model: The eight species of Iberis present in Turkey were examined. The fruit and seed characteristics were obtained and statistical analysis was performed using UPGMA. Study site and dates: Fifteen localities in Turkey, from 2015 to 2019. Methods: Samples of fruit and seed of eight species of Iberis were collected, stored, and later measured and described with aid of light and scanning electron microscopies. Results: All eight species had different fruit and seed characters; particularly differing from each other with respect to fruit and seed size, seed shape and seed ornamentation. Two fruit ornamentation types were evident, smooth and striated. The seed coat surface were separated into three types: reticulate, reticulate-rugose and reticulate-papillate, being reticulate the most common. Further differences were noted for the seed surface epidermal structures, notably species had rectangular, tetragonal, or pentagonal patterning. An identification key was constructed based on a similarity analysis. Conclusions: Fruit morphology, seed dimensions, colour, and epidermal cell patterning are useful microcharacters that enabled species-level determinations in the Iberis species sampled.

Rediscovery of Pseudobartsia glandulosa (Orobanchaceae), a little known, critically endangered herb after 179 years from India, and first report from Eastern Himalayan state Arunachal Pradesh

The monotypic genus Pseudobartsia Hong (1979: 406) is represented by Pseudobartsia glandulosa (Bentham) Yu & Li in Yu et al. (2015: 197) occurring in China and India (Yu et al. 2015, POWO 2020). In China, the species was collected in 1940 from Longtanying, Songming, Yunnan and since then this species was never collected or reported from these localities, hence it is believed to have gone extinct from here (Dong et al. 2013, Yu et al. 2015). In India, this species is known only by the type collection form Shivli, Uttarakhand in the year 1840 by Edgeworth (Khanna et al. 1999). Bentham (1846) described Euphrasia glandulosa based on specimens collected by Edgeworth in 1840 from Shivli, Uttarakhand, India. Later, Hooker (1884) made a combination for Euphrasia glandulosa Bentham (1846: 555) under the genus Phtheirospermum Bunge ex Fischer & Meyer (1835: 35). The genus Pseudobartsia was established by Hong (1979) with one species, Pseudobartsia yunnanensis Hong (1979: 406). Based on the study of the type specimens of Euphrasia glandulosa and Pseudobartsia yunnanensis, Tao (1993, 1996) found that Pseudobartsia yunnanensis cannot be distinguished from Phtheirospermum glandulosum (≡ Euphrasia glandulosa), therefore he treated Pseudobartsia as a synonym of Phtheirospermum and synonymized Pseudobartsia yunnanensis under Phtheirospermum glandulosum. However, recent phylogenetic studies (Dong et al. 2013; McNeal et al. 2013), pollen morphological evidence (Lu et al. 2007) and seed characters (Dong et al. 2013), support Pseudobartsia as distinct and independent genus. Because the name Euphrasia glandulosa as priority over Pseudobartsia yunnanensis, Yu & Li in Yu et al. (2015) made a new combination Pseudobartsia glandulosa to replace the latter in the genus Pseudobartsia.

Seed development and its relationship to fruit structure in species of Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) with fleshy fruits

In Bromeliaceae, fruit type and seed morphology have been used to distinguish the subfamilies. We studied seed and fruit development of three species of Bromelioideae (Aechmea bromeliifolia, Billbergia distachia and Neoregelia bahiana) relating seed characters to fruit structure. Aechmea bromeliifolia has few ovules per locule inserted within the apical portion of the ovary and the seeds are larger, with a long chalazal appendage, growing towards the fruit base. In B. distachia and N. bahiana, the ovules are numerous and subapically to centrally inserted in the ovary; the seeds are smaller, with a radial disposition, and the chalazal appendages are short (B. distachia) or absent (N. bahiana). The chalazal appendages grow during seed development, and thus their presence/length may be related to the number of ovules/seeds per locule and to the disposition of the ovules inside the locules. The fruits are berries, and juiciness is promoted by mesocarp cells and by substances secreted inside the locules by the placental obturator at later stages of fruit development. These fruit and seed features are strategies for zoochory and provide evidence that each species studied is dispersed by a different type of animal.