Turkish Journal of Botany

Morphological cladistic analysis of some bifurcate hairy sections of Astragalus (Fabaceae) in Iran
Reza SHEIKH AKBARI MEHR¹, Ali Asghar MAASSOUMI², Abbas SAIDI³,
Shahrokh KAZEMPOUR OSALOO⁴, Majid GHORBANI NOHOOJI¹
¹Department of Botany, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University G. C., Tehran - IRAN
²Department of Botany, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran - IRAN
³Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Energy Engineering and New Technologies, Shahid Beheshti
University G. C., Tehran - IRAN
⁴Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modaress University, Tehran - IRAN

Abstract: The phylogenetic relationships among some bifurcate hairy sections of Astragalus L. were reconstructed using 38 vegetative and reproductive morphological characters. A data matrix comprising 36 ingroups and 2 outgroups was analysed using the maximum parsimony method. The present results revealed that sections Onobrychoidei DC. and Ornithopodium Bunge are interrelated taxa and form a single monophyletic group. The current status of section Dissitiflori DC. is a nonmonophyletic group. Its members form several subclades and unresolved branches across the tree. Sections Erioceras Bunge and Cytisodes Bunge as well as Corethrum Bunge are sister taxa and form weakly to highly supported monophyletic groups, respectively. Astragalus pravitzii Podlech, which was recently transferred to section Ornithopodium from section Dissitiflori, has no affinity with that section.

Key words: Astragalus, cladistic, Dissitiflori, Erioceras, Ornithopodium, Onobrychoidei, phylogeny

Turk. J. Bot., 36, (2012), 434-442.
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Other articles published in the same issue: Turk. J. Bot.,vol.36,iss.5.