VARIABILITY OF LEAVES PARAMETERS IN ORIENTAL PLANE TREE (PLATANUS ORIENTALIS L.)

This paper presents the results of leaves parameters measuring of Oriental plane tree (Platanus orientalis L.), a rare tree species of Bulgarian flora naturally occurring only along the river streams in the southern part of the country. Based on morphometric parameters, the variability of the leaves of the oriental plane tree in 8 natural habitats (Asenovgrad, Topolovo, Sandanski, Melnik, Petrich, Slavyanka, Gotse Delchev and Ivaylovgrad) of the species in Bulgaria has been investigated. A higher degree of variability was observed between half-sib offspring than between populations. Eight parameters of the leaves were measured, in most cases the population from Asenovgrad is superior to the other origins. The results show that the most differentiated features are the length of the leafstalk (LD) and the length of the middle lobe (L). The size and shape of the leaves are relatively homogeneous and this makes difficult to determine individual origins only by leaves.