L. amplexicaule L. grows in different regions of Iran and forms several populations that can be invasive in some area. Morphological and genetic variation of L. amplexicaule in Iran was studied to evaluate the differentiation among three presumed varieties within this species. Morphometric study was accompanied by the analysis of ISSR and chloroplast genome (psbA-trnH). Results of the molecular methods show that L. amplexicaule var. bornmuelleri Mennema. does not form any genetically distinct group. Genetic study of 103 plant specimens of 13 different populations using ISSR molecular marker revealed a high degree of within-population (67%) and among (33%) populations genetic diversity. AMOVA and Gst analyses produced a significant difference. Nm estimation revealed certain degree of gene flow/shared alleles between these populations, indicating that L. amplexicaule is predominantly an out-crossing species in Iran. Mantel test produced significant correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance of the studied populations (r = 0.097, P = 0.04). STRUCTURE plot identified two main gene pools for this species in Iran.

Abstract. Azimishad F, Sheidai M, Talebi SM, Noormohammadi Z. 2019. Species relationship and genetic diversity in some Iranian Lamium L. species using ISSR markers. Biodiversitas 20: 1963-1972. Lamium is a widespread and taxonomically complex genus of Lamiaceae which comprises of 16-38 species. This genus is represented in Iran by nine species. In the present study, we used morphological and molecular (ISSR, Cp DNA, and nrITS) data to evaluate species relationships, genetic diversity and population genetic structure of the genus. 27 morphological characteristics, including 13 qualitative and 14 quantitative, and ten ISSR markers were used for morphological and genetical evaluation of 73 accessions from eight taxa. In general, species relationships obtained from morphological and molecular data were largely congruent. In the morphological study, characteristics like the life form, leaf shape, absence/existence of bracts and shape of corolla, were distinctive traits and we did not encounter intermediate forms. Our findings indicated a very high efficiency of the ISSR markers in the identification and delimitation of Lamium species. These results confirmed the placement of L. galeobdolon in the genus Lamium and segregation of L. purpureum and L. garganicum in section Lamium. AMOVA analysis revealed that the species of this genus are genetically differentiated. Nm analysis showed very low value of gene flow among the studied species and mantel test indicated isolation by distance occurred among them.

Lagochilus is a genus with ten taxa (species, subspecies and variety) in Iran, which nine of them are endemic. This is the first micromorphological investigation of this genus. Micromorphological features of trichomes on the stems, leaves and calyces, and also pollen morphology of 19 populations were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Two types of trichome (glandular and non-glandular) including 14 forms were described. Here, among the non-glandular trichomes, cell number and size of trichomes are considered as valuable characteristics, while the glandular trichomes are observed as stalked, sessile and peltate. Lagochilus pollen grains are tricolpate and small to medium sized. The basic shape of the pollen grains in most taxa is prolate, however prolate-subprolate pollen grains was recorded for L. aucheri ssp. aucheri var. aucheri 2. Four types of exine sculpture patterns were distinguished: bireticulate, reticulate, microreticulate and incomplete reticulate. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics were examined by multivariate analysis. The results indicated that the studied taxa were separated from each other; however varieties of L. aucheri did not grouped together. The results support the existence of known varieties in L. aucheri. In general, our investigations reveal the usefulness of micromorphological characteristics in taxon delimitation at the specific and infraspecific levels.