NUMERICAL TAXONOMY OF GENUS FICUSL. 1753 (MORACEAE),WITH ADDITION NEW RECORD SPECIES TO EGYPT

Abstract

he taxonomy of FicusL., 1753 species is confusing because of the intense morphological variability and the ambiguity of the taxa. This study handled 36 macro-morphological characteristics to clarify the taxonomic identity of the taxa. The study revealed that Ficusis represented in the Egyptian gardens with forty-one taxa; 33 species, 4 subspecies and 4 varieties, and classified into five subgenera: FicusCorner, 1960; TeregaRaf., 1838; SycomorusRaf.,1838; Synoecia(Miq.) Miq.,1867, and SpherosukeRaf.,1838; out of them seven were misidentified. Amongst, four newFicustaxa were recently introduced to Egypt namely: F. linguasubsp. linguaWarb. ex De Wild. & T. Durand, 1901; F. pumilaL., 1753; F. rumphiiBlume, 1825, and F. surForssk., 1775. The application of the multivariate analyses in plant systematics namely the two-way clustering analysis and the principal component analysis revealed that the qualitative characters as the presence or absence of lateral peduncular or ostiolar bracts and the leaf margin delimit the differentiation of subgenera within genus Ficus. Whereas the qualitative characters of the leaf as leaf arrangement, lamina shape, length, ratio of length to width, base, apex, number of lateral veins, stipules and figs either pedunculate or sessile, shape, and width are significantly separating the species within the different sections. Seven different identification keys of the studied taxa based on the examined characters are provided. In addition, a diagrammatic key for all the studied taxa is given.

Keywords

• cluster analysis
• ficus
• identification
• new record