Cotyledon Numbers of Two Peganum Species (Peganaceae) in Mongolia

Abstract

Most seedlings of Peganum harmala and P. nigellastrum have two cotyledons, but up to 10% of all seedlings of P. harmala have to three cotyledons, and up to 1.7% has four cotyledons. Up to 5.4% on P. nigellastrum have only three cotyledons. Frequency of three cotyledonous seedlings among these two species was signifi cantly different. The present results report three cotyledonous seedlings, as well as four cotyledonous seedlings in the family Peganaceae, in addition to two cotyledonous seedlings. On both species, the frequency of three cotyledonous seedlings was increased with increased annual precipitation and decreased air temperature, and in localities, which isolated from main distribution range. The frequency of three cotyledonous seedlings of P. harmala increased with increasing soil alkalization, but that of P. nigellastrum increased with decreasing alkalization.

Keywords

• Peganum harmala
• Peganum nigellastrum
• cotyledon