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Exomorphic seed characters of some species of the Apocynaceae s.l. in Egypt
Author(s) -
Al Nawaihi A. S.,
Hassan S. A.,
Elwan Z. A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
feddes repertorium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1522-239X
pISSN - 0014-8962
DOI - 10.1002/fedr.200611114
Subject(s) - apocynaceae , reticulate , biology , japonica , character (mathematics) , taxon , botany , mathematics , geometry
Exomorphic seed characters of 18 species of the Apocynaceae s.l. were investigated for an evidence to support or to oppose its taxonomic treatment as suggested by Endress & Bruyns (2000). It was found that some characters fluctuated through different expressions in different taxa. These were shape of the seed, and the reticulate sculpture of the seed coat. Some other characters showed a relative consistency at the sub‐familial level. The latter characters were the seed coma, the concavity or convexity of the periclinal walls and the channeling of various depths of the anticlinal walls. It was concluded that such gradation in characters and character states on one hand and the relative consistency of some of them on the other hand may promote further investigation on the seed exomorphic characters in a large sample for an additional evidence to the supports or non supports to a large Apocynaceae, or to the elimination of some of its taxa to form the apomorphic derivative Asclepiadaceae. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)