| چکیده انگلیسی مقاله |
To investigate morphological diversity, 10 populations of the medicinal plant Berberis L. were collected from different regions of Semnan Province, and 34 morphological traits were analyzed. Significant differences at the 0.05 level were detected among several measured traits. The highest average raceme length (5.20 cm), number of berries per raceme (19), fruit length (1.01 cm), and thorn length (2.28 cm) were recorded in the Nekarman population. In contrast, the lowest average thorn length (1.12 cm), raceme length (1.45 cm), and number of berries per raceme (9) were recorded in the Abar village population. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the first and second components together accounted for 59.06% of the total variance. Clustering and ordination analyses separated the populations into three groups. The first group included the Tazreh, Majan, Nekarman, and Mehmandoyieh populations, which are probably attributable to the hybrid species Berberis integerrima × orthobotrys. The second group comprised the Abar village and Abar forest populations, most likely belonging to B. orthobotrys. The third group included the Aftar, Shahmirzad, Tarom, and Kamand populations, which are probably attributable to the hybrid species B. integerrima × crataegina. The observed variation in morphological traits reflects taxonomic diversity, and these traits can therefore be employed in the preparation of determination keys and in the classification of the genus Berberis. Keywords: Medicinal plants, populations, classification, morphology, hybrids. Introduction The genus Berberis L. is a medicinal and ornamental shrub in Iran and is classified within the Berberidaceae family (Mozaffarian, 2013). A comprehensive biosystematic study of this genus, based on morphological, cytological, palynological, and molecular evidence, was carried out in the provinces of North, South, and Razavi Khorasan on numerous specimens preserved in the herbaria of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUMH) and the Forest and Rangeland Research Institute (TARI). In that study, three species, B. orthobotrys, B. integerrima, and B. crataegina, along with four unidentified taxa that were probably hybrids, were recognized. Two of these species were reported for the first time in the study area (Sodagar et al., 2012). Furthermore, in a separate floristic study conducted in the Hezar Jerib Protected Area (between Semnan and Mazandaran provinces), two species of this genus, namely B. orthobotrys and B. integerrima, were recorded (Azadbakht & Ghahremaninejad, 2023). Based on collections and observations made in Semnan Province and on preliminary taxonomic assessments by researchers and experts, the identification of Berberis species has been complicated by the phenomenon of introgression among different taxa, which has resulted in the emergence of numerous intermediate forms. These forms pose a serious obstacle to the delimitation of natural species boundaries (Azadi, 2009). Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of morphological traits through quantitative and qualitative analyses in order to identify and assess the diversity of barberry species occurring in Semnan Province. Materials & MethodsTo investigate morphological variation, samples were randomly collected from 10 habitats in Semnan Province. Different parts of the adult plants, including branches, leaves, and inflorescences, were sampled and photographed, and the latitude, longitude, and altitude of each collection site were recorded. The samples were obtained during two seasons, spring and autumn, and were subsequently transferred to the botany laboratory, where their initial identification was performed with the aid of a laboratory microscope and reference to authentic floras. Diagnostic traits of the plants were determined based on key features provided in standard identification guides, while additional traits were obtained from field observations. The populations collected from each habitat were then evaluated and measured using 34 traits, comprising 12 quantitative traits, 3 relative traits, and 19 qualitative traits. For phenetic analyses, the mean values of quantitative traits were used, whereas qualitative traits were coded as binary or multistate characters. Significant differences among populations were assessed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS version 26. Cluster analysis was conducted with the WARD method, applying either Euclidean or squared Euclidean distance as the dissimilarity coefficient (Ingrouille, 1986). Principal component analysis (PCA) was also employed to identify the most variable morphological traits among populations (Sneath & Sokal, 1973), using PAST version 3 software (Hammer et al., 2001). Research findingsThe analysis of variance indicated significant differences at the 5% level among populations for several traits, including leaf length, number of berries per raceme, number of leaves per node, brachyblast length, leaf length to thorn length ratio, and shrub height. In contrast, internode length, fruit width, and leaf length to width ratio did not differ significantly among the populations. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups: the first comprised the Majn, Tazreh, Nekarman, and Mehmandoyieh populations, which are most likely attributable to the hybrid species B. integerrima × orthobotrys. The second included the Jangal Abar and Village Abar populations, which corresponded more closely to B. orthobotrys. The third cluster comprised the Aftar, Shahmirzad, Tarom, and Kamand populations, which probably belong to the hybrid species B. integerrima × crataegina. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the first and second components had the greatest contribution to the total variance within the genus, together accounting for 59.06% of the variation. Examination of eigenvalues indicated that, in the first component, the traits of leaf width, thorn length, brachyblast length, fruit width, petiole length, internode length, and shrub height had the highest loadings, while in the second component, fruit length and the ratio of leaf length to thorn length were the most influential traits in the grouping of the studied populations. Discussion of Results & ConclusionThe findings of this study demonstrated that populations collected from different parts of Semnan Province exhibited interspecific variation in several morphological traits. These observations are consistent with those of Bottini et al. (2000), who reported significant morphological variation among 13 wild Berberis L. species in southern Argentina and Chile, and with the results of Talebi et al. (2020), who documented considerable morphological diversity among Berberis populations from northeastern Iran. Similarly, in an analysis of 96 samples of B. integerrima from the Jasb region of Central Iran, based on 30 morphological traits, a high degree of variability was observed, and the groupings obtained in the present study are largely in agreement with the general patterns reported by Maleki-Meighani et al. (2025). Furthermore, several investigations of quantitative and qualitative traits of barberry populations in different regions of Iran, including Semnan Province, have revealed extensive diversity, and the present results are in strong agreement with those studies (Rezaei et al., 2018; Parvane et al., 2020). From a taxonomic perspective, the results of this research are also consistent with studies conducted in neighboring regions and support the recognition of the aforementioned species (Azadbakht & Ghahremaninejad, 2023; Sodagar et al., 2012). AcknowledgmentThe authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, for providing valuable assistance and support in advancing the objectives of this research. |