Pollen morphology of nine species representing four genera: Cephalaria Schrad, Dipsacus L., Pterocephalus Vaill. and Scabiosa L. of the family Dipsacaceae in Iran has been investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that pollen grains were triporate and tricolpate. The pollen type of Scabiosa rotata Bieb. (tri-and tetraporate) is the first report in the world. The sizes of pollen grains fall into the classification group magna (pollen grain diameter 50-100 µm). Pollen shapes vary from preoblate to prolate and their polar views were triangulate and lobate. The exine ornamentation varies from gemmate in S. rotata to spinulate in the rest studied species. Species of Scabiosa have been dispersed in UPGMA tree that this confirmed the previous studies about taxonomic problems and species complexity in this genus. These results show the transfer of the some Scabisoa species to Lomelosia Raf. based on palynological characters. Pollen morphology of the family is helpful at the generic and specific level.

Iran is an ancient country in the usage of medicinal plants and Ahar is known as one of the richest regions of medicinal plants. The traditional knowledge about medicinal plants is the basic step in many drug productions and these kinds of information should be documented through botanical investigations. The present study is the first survey conducted in this region and its primary point is to distinguish such plants and to present their application in traditional medicine. In this study, the data was gathered by talking with indigenous individuals to identify medicinal plants with local importance developed during the 2015 and 2016 growing seasons. Scientific names and therapeutic uses are also mentioned. The results obtained from the present study indicated that there were 46 medicinal species of 23 families in Ahar and local people mainly used Lamiaceae and Asteraceae then Rosaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, and Zygophyllaceae medicinal taxa. Medicinal plants were mostly used to treat intestinal-digestive disorders, for cold treatment and for soothing pain. According to results, significant ethnobotanical data on medicinal plants gives premise information to future pharmacological and phytochemical studies. Also, this document can be utilized as a part of protecting indigenous knowledge.

Dipsacoideae has always been problematic for taxonomic delimitation of the taxa because of their morphological similarities and diversity amongst the taxa. Phenolic compounds are found in various organs of plants and are important in terms of chemotaxonomy and pharmacognosy. In this study, the phenolic acid compounds of 12 species of Dipsacoideae were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography photodiode array detection (HPLC-PDA) and also evaluated their significances as chemotaxonomic markers. The main phenolic acids were found to be caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and salicylic acid. The principal components analysis (PCA) bi-plot indicated that ferulic acid, caffeic acid, cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid and rosmaric acid were principal components in the studied species dispersion. The species were separated from each other in a principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) plot in terms of their phenolic acid profile. Regarding the results, the high amount of caffeic acid and cinnamic acid could be considered a chemotaxonomic marker for genus Pterocephalus Vaill. and Cephalaria Schrad. respectively. The results indicated that Scabiosa koelzii Rech. and S. amoena Jacq. were placed as a distinct group regarding their phenolic acid profile and established the opinion supported by Greuter and Raus. Consequently, phenolic contents could be applied as a significant marker in the chemotaxonomy of Dipsacoideae. Considering it, we suggest the study of interaction among ecological and genetically factors as well as the studied chemical compounds.

The genus Senecio (Asteraceae, Senecioneae) with about 1250 species is one of the largest genera in the family. Due to historical and present time inter-specific hybridization and reticulate evolution in the genus, the morphological and molecular phylogenetic evolution are disjunct. The genus contains 17 species belonging to four sections, sect. Crociseris, sect. Quadridentati, sect. Jacobaea and sect. Senecio, in Iran out of which, six are endemic. Therefore, the present study was performed with the aim to provide data on the above issues. In general, ISSR molecular markers could delimit the studied Senecio species and revealed the species relationships, but did not support any of the sections. The ITS and cp-DNA sequencing of six species of S. iranicus, S. vulcanicus, S. kotschyanus, S. paulsenii subsp. khorasanicus and S. joharchii were obtained for the first time. S-DIVA suggests three possible ancestral ranges, of Kordestan (A), Mazandaran (G), and West-Azarbayejan (D), for Sececio species in Iran. These areas are located in the western parts of Iran. Mazandaran province played important role in the speciation process that led to the formation of endemic Sececio 404

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