Variability in leaf morphological characters of Valeriana officinalis L. and V. alternifolia Ledeb

Presents the results of a comparative morphological analysis of the variability of 9 quantitative and quali-tative characteristics of the leaf (length, width and index of the leaf, the number (or number of pairs) of leaf lobes, length, width and index of the lateral leaf lobe, the number of denticles along the edge of the leaf lobe, leaves in a sample with entire and toothed edges of the leaf blade) of closely related species Va-leriana officinalis L. and V. alternifolia (Bunge) Ledeb. Samples of 7 cenopopulations of V. officinalis (South Urals) and 5 cenopopulations of V. alternifolia (Central Yakutia) served as the material for the analysis. In both species, the levels of variability of morphological traits of the leaf are not lower than the average, predominantly increased, the least variable trait is the number of pairs of leaf lobes. In the sam-ple of V. alternifolia, the prevailing frequency of occurrence of leaves with a certain number of leaf lobes is not expressed; most values fall within a wide range from 11 to 17 pcs. (5-8 pairs) leaf lobes; in the sample of V. officinalis, there is a pronounced peak in the number of leaf lobes equal to 16 pcs. (8 pairs), most of the leaves fall in the range from 14 to 18 pcs. (7-9 pairs) leaf lobes. Valeriana alternifolia is characterized by relatively small leaves with 5-8 pairs of narrow lobes, mostly whole-edged. Valeriana officinalis is characterized by relatively large and elongated leaves with 7-9 pairs of relatively wide lobes with several denticles along the edge. To differentiate closely related species, the following quantitative morphological characteristics of a leaf can be reliably used: length, width and index, number of leaf lobes, length, width and leaf lobe index.