Variation of seed morphology of Trollius europaeus L. and Trollius altissimus Crantz (Ranunculaceae)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate seed morphology and intra-and inter-population variation of seeds of Trollius europaeus L. and Trollius altissimus Crantz., two controversial species regarding their taxonomical position. We analyzed seed-coat microsculpture and some biometrical traits (length and width, width/length ratio, volume and projected perimeter). Seed sculpture did not differ between species, but seeds of T. altissimus were usually larger than seeds of T. europaeus. Although species differed significantly in seed morphology, it was possible to show the populations of both species that were similar regarding the analyzed seed traits. We noted a significant inter-population differentiation of seeds in both species with respect to seed-coat microornamentation and biometrical traits. We conclude that T. europaeus and T. altissimus are probably not two distinct species, but T. europaeus should be divided into two lower taxa in the rank of variety or subspecies.

More lightweight and isodiametric seeds for C4than for C3grasses are associated with preference for open habitats of C4grasses in a temperate flora

“…Seed shape was characterized by the slenderness (length per width) of the seeds, based on the measurements of ten seeds, with 0·1‐mm accuracy. Slenderness was chosen to describe seed shape because this ratio is known to be more characteristic to the species than seed length or width alone (Antkowiak et al ., ). In practice, caryopses or caryopses with persistent lemmas (in the case of strongly attached lemmas) were measured, but in any case without awns.…”

Genetic relatedness and taxonomy in closely related species of Hedysarum (Fabaceae)

“…The seed ornamentation data provide a valuable source of discriminant traits at different hierarchical levels in angiosperms, but not in all cases. For example, a significant variability of seed types was found in two controversial species of Trollius L., though the seed sculpture characteristics could not be used in the species discrimination (Antkowiak et al, 2010). Similarly, 7 types of seed morphology were recognized within 37 taxa of Trigonella L. (Ceter et al, 2012), however, seed characteristics did not provide any considerable information to separate the species even at sectional level.…”

Numerical analyses of seed morphology and its taxonomic significance in the tribe Nigelleae (Ranunculaceae)

“…Seed morphological characters have been considered significant traits for distinguishing among all taxonomic ranks in different plant families (Barthlott 1981, Arroyo-Cosultchi et al 2006, Fagundez and Izco 2011, Antkowiak et al 2018, Ghimire et al 2018). In addition, seed coat morphology, especially micromorphology, have provided useful taxonomic information for different genera of Ranunculaceae (Cappelletti and Poldini 1984, Karcz and Tomzcok 1987, Luo et al 2005, Dadandı et al 2009, Wang et al 2009, Antkowiak et al 2010, Emadzade et al 2010, Heiss et al 2011, Ghimire et al 2015, 2016. Half of the sections of Consolida (Constantinidis et al 2001) and tribe Delphinieae (Ghimire et al 2015) are well supported based on only seed characters.…”