Erodium (Geranaiceae) species are distributed in different habitats of Iran. Some species are of medicinal importance while some are well known weeds. In arid and semi-arid regions, E. cicutarium has had some importance as a forage plant and is an important grazing plant and source of protein supplements to straw for ruminants in semi deserts and wastelands of the Middle East. There is no information on its population genetic structure, genetic diversity, and morphological variability in Iran. Due to the medicinal importance of this species, a genetic variability and populations? structure study is performed studying 15 geographical populations of E. cicutarium Therefore, we used six inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism (IRAP) markers and 15 combined IRAP markers to reveal within and among population genetic diversity in this plant. AMOVA test produced significant genetic difference (PhiPT = 0.39, P = 0.010) among the studied populations and also revealed that, 55% of total genetic variability was due to within population diversity while, 45% was due to among population genetic differentiation. Mantel test showed positive significant correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance of the studied populations. Networking, STRUCTURE analyses and population assignment test revealed some degree of gene flow among these populations. PCoA plot of populations based on morphological characters was in agreement with MDS plot of molecular data. These results indicated that geographical populations of E. cicutarium are well differentiated both in genetic content as well as morphological characteristics. Consensus tree based on morphological and genetic data separated some of these populations from the others suggesting the existence of ecotypes within this species.

Stellaria media (L.) Vill., known under the name of chickweed, is an annual medicinal plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. This species is distributed in the north regions of Iran. In the present study, the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used to estimate infraspecific variation in different populations of Stellaria media. Samples from 11 populations were collected from different regions of the country during spring 2018. For RAPD investigations, populations were divided into three geographical regions. This study provides important data on the genetic diversity, population structure and morphological characteristics of Stellaria media. The AMOVA and Gst analyses showed that the populations of this species are genetically differentiated. Nm analysis revealed very low value of genetic diversity among the studied population and mantel test indicated isolation by distance occurred among them. The studied populations of S. media are differentiated in morphological characteristics and genetic content. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 27(1): 173-184, 2020 (June)

Assessing the genetic diversity in the population is the prerequisite to start and develop plant breeding projects. Pistacia vera is considered as a commercial species of Pistacia genus. In Iran, Pistachio export is in the second place in terms of non-oil exports and in the first place among horticultural crops. Therefore, we collected and analyzed 11 pistachio genotype (Pistacia vera), from two provinces of Iran regions. Our aims were 1) to assess genetic diversity among some of Irainian pistachio cultivars 2) is there a correlation between species genetic and geographical distance? 3) Genetic structure of populations and taxa. We showed significant differences in quantitative morphological characters in plant species. Akbari cultivars depicted unbiased expected heterozygosity (UHe) in the range of 0.028. Shannon information was high (0.49) in Seifadini cultivars. Akbari cultivars howed the lowest value, 0.029. The observed number of alleles (Na) ranged from 0.261 to 2.700 in Shahpasand cultivars and Kalehghoochi cultivars. The effective number of alleles (Ne) was in the range of 1.021-1.800 for Akbari cultivars and Moosaabadi cultivars .Gene flow (Nm) was relatively low (0.38) in pistachio cultivars. The Mantel test showed correlation (r = 0.33, p=0.0001) between genetic and geographical distances. We reported high genetic diversity, which clearly shows the among some of Irainian pistachio cultivars can adapt to changing environments since high genetic diversity is linked to species adaptability. Present results highlighted the utility of RAPD markers and morphometry methods to investigate genetic diversity in pistachio cultivars.

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