Morphometric variation and taxonomic identification of thirteen wild rose populations from Tunisia

Abstract

-Thirteen populations of wild roses (Rosa L.) growing in northern and central Tunisia have been used for studies on the discrimination between accessions and populations. Thirty-eight morphological characters related to the branches, prickles, leaves and corymbs were measured on the collected accessions to study the phenotypic diversity among and within species. Principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses (PCA and HCA) separated rose accessions into two distinctive groups and eight subgroups. A taxonomic interpretation of the morphological variability has shown that Tunisian rose populations belong to two sections (Synstylae and Caninae) of the genus Rosa. Moreover, they have been identifi ed as seven separated taxa: R. sempervirens L., R. sempervirens var. submoshata Rouy., R. sempervirens var. prostrata Lindl. belonging to Synstylae section and R. canina L., R. agrestis Savi., R. micrantha Smith. and R. dumetorum Thuill. belonging to Caninae section. PCA and HCA proved that morphological characters used in taxonomic identifi cation such as styles form, leaf and leafl ets length, number of fl owers by corymb, leafl et serration, presence of glands in leafl et, peduncle, receptacle and sepal have a high value of discrimination, and have been very successful in morphological identifi cation.

Variability in pomological traits of dog rose (Rosa canina L.) under the ecological conditions of the Republic of Croatia

“…The results obtained in this study confirm the existence of significant variability between dog rose populations in the Republic of Croatia. The genus Rosa is marked by huge phenotypic plasticity, which is caused by high phenotypic, genotypic and ecological variability due to different evolution processes such as hybridization and introgression (Ben Cheikh- Affene et al, 2015). For the majority of studied traits, the highest values in 2010 and 2012 were obtained by genotype G4 and G3, respectively.…”

“…In Tunisia, the average fruit weight varied between 2.99 and 4.34 g in local dog rose genotypes (Güneş et al, 2016), and it was 1.00 g for dog rose and between 0.9 and 1.9 g for six Rosa spp. genotypes (Ben Cheikh-Affene et al, 2015). In Croatia, the average fruit weight of eight dog rose seedlings varied from 1.88 to 2.69 g (Šindrak et al, 2012).…”

“…In 2010 and 2012, the smallest flesh weight was obtained by G2 (0.77 ± 0.12 g and 0.78 ± 0.13 g, respectively). In Tunisia, Ben Cheikh- Affene et al (2015) analyzed the average flesh weight of four Rosa species and reported that it ranged from 0.69 g to 1.20 g, while the flesh weight of dog rose was 0.77 g. In Croatia, Šindrak et al (2012) reported a significant difference in flesh weight among eight dog rose seedlings, and it varied from 1.31 g to 1.94 g. Results in this study are within the range of values obtained in other studies.…”

“…In Hungary, the fruit flesh ratio of Rosa species varied from 46.07 to 69.24% (for dog rose 62.66 %) (Kovács et al, 2000). In four Rosa species (six accessions) from Tunisia, fruit flesh ratio varied from 63.60% (R. pomifera) to 73.7% (R. canina) (Ben Cheikh- Affene et al, 2015). In Croatia, the fruit flesh ratio of eight dog rose seedlings varied from 65.40% to 74.70% (Šindrak et al, 2012).…”

Comparative anatomical and morphological studies on six Muscari species (Asparagaceae)

“…The dendrogram formed based on anatomical and morphological characters discriminated the six Muscari species from each other. Morphometrically analysis were used to solve taxonomical problems in very broad intervals and taxonomical levels, like Asparagaceae family which merged with Liliaceae based on PCA analysis or the other families such as Asteraceae, Rosaceae [42,43,44]. Non-metric analysis were performed and its results are congruent with similar researches [45].…”