A morphological study of Smyrnium (Apiaceae) from Turkey

Abstract

In this study, six taxa of the genus Smyrnium L. (Apiaceae) Smyrnium olusatrum L, S. perfoliatum L. subsp. perfoliatum, S. perfoliatum Mill. subsp. rotundifolium, S. cordifolium Boiss., S. connatum Boiss & Kotschy and S. creticum Mill. were investigated. Specimens were collected from the field and general morphology of every taxa was drawn. Especially micromorphological surface characteristics of mericarps were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mericarp characters of each taxa were examined by using light microscopy and quantitative analysis was done because of the mericarp characters importance in systematic. Based on these data, the mericarp’s features were added to the identification key in addition to the characters used in differentiating the species in the Flora of Turkey.