Population Variability of the Species Polygonum aviculare

Abstract

As Polygonum aviculare L. is characterized by exceptional polymorphism, 10 populations of this species were subjected to relevant morpho-anatomical investigation for a more detailed taxonomic determination. The following morphological parameters were measured: stem length, internode length, leaf length and width, and leaf area. To analyse the basic differences in leaf anatomy, the following parameters were measured: upper epidermis height of leaf, mesophyll thickness and lower epidermis height of leaf. All data acquired in this investigation were processed by SPSS 8.0 software, and t-test was used to determine the significance of the differences found among the populations analysed, while their differentiationwas done using canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) and cluster analysis.Morphological differences among the analysed populations were found more evident than the anatomical. Leaf length and width, leaf area, internode length and leaf thickness were the most discriminating parameters for population differentiation.

Keywords

• Polygonum aviculare L.
• Population
• Morphology
• Anatomy