Morphological Characterization of Pulicaria crispa (Asteraceae) Achenes of Four Populations Distributed in the Central Region of Saudi Arabia

Mona M. Alrasheed, Mona S. Alwahibi, Shikhah K. Alnemar

Abstract: The morphological structure and the different characters of the achenes are important divisive traits for the differentiation of plant species. The main aim of this study was to provide a morphological characterization of Pulicaria crispa achenes and to explore the morphological variation and the relationships between its different populations from four different locations in the central region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Detailed descriptions of the achene surface were given for each taxon. The results indicated that the examined taxa had variations regarding their achene surfaces and these variations have great importance in determining the taxonomic information of the discussed taxa. Achene was characterized in P. crispa samples of different study sites by Carpopodium as well as Pappus. It was different between the studied taxa in shape and length, and that would be evaluated as a decisive micromorphological character of this within the species.

Keywords: Pulicaria crispa, Achene, Carpopodium, Pappus, Saudia Arabia