Iranian Pimpinella L. (Apiaceae): A taxonomic revision

By: Maryam Khajehpiri, Sogol Fereidounfar, Valiollah Mozaffarian, Farrokh Ghahremaninejad

Key Words: Umbelliferae, Pimpinella, Taxonomy, Iran, NTSYS.

J. Bio. Env. Sci. 8(1), 139-158, January 2016.

Abstract

In the family Apiaceae subfamily Apioideae, the genus Pimpinella L. with about 150 species is one of the largest genera. This widespread and taxonomically complex genus has 20 species distributed throughout Iran, of which, eight species are endemic. The resolution of relationships among these approximately 20 species remains largely obscure. In this study, Morphological analyses were conducted using NTSYS to assess relationships among Pimpinella species with emphasis on Iranian Pimpinella. Based on the most significant morphological characters, a dendrogram was sketched ending up giving the following results: In phenon line 0.54 and 0.56, two clusters are clearly distinct. In the first cluster three distinct branches could be observed: (1) annual species of genus Pimpinella L., although P. affinis shows similarity to them, (2) four species includes P. anisactis, P. khorasanica, P. khayyamii and P. tragium and (3) Reutera group (P. aurea, P. deverroides, P. tragioides, P. dichotoma and P. pastinacifolia). At 0.56 the second cluster separated P. kotschyana, P. oliverioides, P. olivieri and P. gedrosiaca from the second subcluster which includes P. peucedanifolia, P. rhodantha, and P. saxifraga. Morphologically speaking, these species exhibit blatant differences compared with others. In addition, the identification key is also provided to represent the similarities and relationships between the species. This study presents a complete description, general distribution and its distribution in Iran for each species as well as some distribution maps for all Iranian species.

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