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Scanning electron micrographs. Erodium arborescens: A-Whole seed; B-Seed surface. E. cionium: C-Whole Seed; D-Seed surface E. cicutarium: E-Whole seed; F-Seed surface. E. gruinum: G-Whole seed; H-Seed surface. E. hirtum: I-Whole seed; J-Seed surface
Source publication
Seed Exomorphic characters of 10 taxa of Erodium species (Geraniaceae) in Libya were investigated by LM and SEM. The seed exomorphic characters which diagnostic at the species level are seed shape, dimensions, epidermal cell patterns as seen by SEM, anticlinal cell boundaries and periclinal cell wall. Different characteristics were appeared in the...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... ovoid to obclavate, with triangular apex, 3.8x1.14 mm, brown. Epidermal cells isodiametric or in different forms, 4-polygonal arranged in longitudinal rows parallel to the longitudinal axis of the seed; anticlinal boundaries raised, straight, thick, smooth with extra longitudinal anticlinal boundaries; periclinal cell walls concave and smooth (Fig. 1, ...
Context 2
... obclavate to cylindrical with truncate apex, 6x2 mm, brown. Epidermal cells differ in shape, 4-polygonal, anticlinal boundaries raised, straight, thick, smooth, with clearly defined extra longitudinal and transverse anticlinal cell boundaries; periclinal cell walls concave, smooth or with fine folds. (Fig.1, ...
Context 3
... narrow ovoid to obclavate with round apex , 3 x 1 mm, brown. Epidermal cells isodiametric, 4-, 5-, 6-polygonal; anticlinal boundaries raised, straight or undulate, with fine foldes; periclinal cell walls concave with fine folds. Fig.1, E&F). apex, 5.5x2 mm, brown. Epidermal cells differ in shape, polygonal; anticlinal boundaries raised, straight, thick, smooth, with clearly defined extra longitudinal and transverse cell boundaries; periclinal cell walls concave and reticulate (Fig.1, ...
Context 4
... raised, straight or undulate, with fine foldes; periclinal cell walls concave with fine folds. Fig.1, E&F). apex, 5.5x2 mm, brown. Epidermal cells differ in shape, polygonal; anticlinal boundaries raised, straight, thick, smooth, with clearly defined extra longitudinal and transverse cell boundaries; periclinal cell walls concave and reticulate (Fig.1, ...
Context 5
... Seeds narrow ovoid to obclavate, with truncate apex, 0.7x2.7 mm, reddish brown. Epidermal cells isodiametric or in different forms, 4-polygonal arranged in longitudinal rows parallel to the longitudinal axis of the seed; anticlinal boundaries raised, straight, thick, smooth with fine folds; periclinal cell walls concave with fine folds and papillate ( Fig. 1, I &J). ...
Citations
This study aimed to inventory and classify Erodium L'Herit species spread in
Aleppo, and it relied on macro and micromorphological characteristics such
as the general shape and characteristics of leaves, flowers, fruits, mericarps,
seeds and pollen grains. The number of studied traits was 69, including 33
quantitative and 36 qualitative. Numerical cluster analysis was done using R
software and K-means clustering algorithm. Seven species have been
classified: E. cicutarium, E. acaule, E. moschatum, E. deserti, E. ciconium,
E. malacoides, and E. subtrilobum, all of which belong to the subgenus.
Barbata Boiss. The carpel foveoles were non-glandular in E. cicutarium and
E. acaule, while it was clearly glandular in the other five species. The carpel
foveoles were surrounded by furrows in all species except E. ciconium. The
furrows were non-glandular in E. cicutarium, E. acaule and E. subtrilobum,
and glandular in E. moschatum and E. deserti and E. malacoides. The study
of pollen showed the similarity of the studied species in the shape of the grains
and differences in the dimensions of the polar axis P and the equatorial
diameter E. The seeds of the studied species were similar in dimensions and
were all oblanceolate with a rounded apex, except for the seeds of E. ciconium
which had the largest length of 3.9 mm and had Elliptical shape with truncate
top. The results of the numerical analysis showed that the species separated
into two clusters, the first included E. cicutarium and E. acaule, while the
second separated into two sub-clusters, the first containing E. ciconium alone,
and the second containing two groups, the first including E. moschatum and
E. deserti, the second included E. malacoides and E. subtrilobum. The study
showed that Aleppo is a natural and rich habitat of Erodium species.
This study dealt with the phytochemical detection of the active
constituents of six species of the genus Erodium L'Hér. E. cicutarium,
E. acaule, E. moschatum, E. deserti, E. malacoides, and E. ciconium
were grown wild in Aleppo, using qualitative reagents for aqueous and
methanolic extracts. Thin layer chromatography was also used to
detect alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, terpene glycosides, and
volatile oils. The resulting spots to be used in the chemotaxonomy of
the studied and the percentage of affinity between species (PA), the
values of group affinity (GA), and the percentage of isolated values
(IV) were calculated. The results showed that the presence of tannins,
flupatanins and terpenoids is more evident in methanolic extracts and
was absent in some aqueous extracts, in contrast to saponins and
anthocyanins. The results also showed the presence of small amounts
of proteins, steroids and resin in the six species. The chromatographic
analysis resulted in a Dendrogram among the studied species, and (PA)
between E. moschatum and E. deserti was 46%, and the two species E.
cicutarium and E. deserti are the two species farthest from each other
with a ratio of approximately 27.66%. E. malacoides was characterized
by a terpene glycosides spot (Rf ~ 0.78), an essential oils spot (Rf ~
0.27), and E. ciconium by a phenols spot (Rf ~ 0.10). The results
indicated that there is a chemical variation between the species, which
confirms the importance of the chemical classification of the species of
the studied genus.
Keywords: Phytochemistry, Chemotaxonomy, TLC, Erodium, Geraniaceae.
Introduction: The Geraniaceae family includes 5 genera and about 835 sub-cosmopolitan species, distributed especially in temperate and subtropical regions, some of which are concentrated in the Mediterranean and Asia. In Syria, species belonging to the genera Geranium, Erodium and Biebersteinia from this family are widespread. Aleppo is a natural habitat rich in some of these species of medicinal, nutritional and pastoral importance. Therefore, this study came as a contribution to enriching knowledge about the biodiversity of Geraniaceae, and to survey, classify and identify its affiliated species that are widespread in Aleppo flora, and to use the morphological taxonomic data of fruits, seeds, and pollen to develop a new taxonomic key for the studied species, and develop a dendrogram for them. The phytochemical screening of the basic classes of the active components to use the results in Chemotaxonomy and to clarify the chemical affinity between the studied species to use a larger number of available taxonomic evidence.
Materials and Methods: About 20 sites were studied, including the habitats favored by the plant. An inventory of the studied species was made in March and April. during the flowering and fruiting period, and the dispersal of mericarps. Density, frequency, and abundance were calculated. The results were compared with numerical abundance Index. Hundreds of samples were collected and dried specimens representing the studied species were prepared, and were given numbers from BD-1301-BD-1345.
The morphological study relied on plant characteristics such as the habit and characteristics of leaves, flowers, fruits, mericarps, seeds and pollen grains. Numerical clustering analysis was carried out using the K-means clustering algorithm in the R Programming.
The phytochemical study relied on color interactions and qualitative reagents for the aqueous and methanolic extracts. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) was also used to detect alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, terpene glycosides and volatile oils. The resulting spots were analyzed numerically using the hierarchical cluster analysis algorithm in the IBM SPSS Statistics 23. The paired affinity percentage (PA), the group affinity (GA), and the isolation value (IV) were also calculated.
Results and Discussion: Seven species of Erodium were identified as E. cicutarium, E. acaule, E. moschatum, E. deserti, E. ciconium, E. malacoides, and E. subtrilobum. All of them belong to the subgenus. Barbata Boiss. The plant density ranged from 0.14 individuals/m2 for E. subtrilobum, to 8.55 individuals/m2 for E. moschatum, and the frequency ranged from 3% for the E. ciconium, to 73% for the E. malacoides. The abundance varied from very rare species, which were E. ciconium and E. subtrilobum, to abundant which were E. moschatum and E. malacoides.
The studied species differed in some morphological characteristics of flowers, fruits, and mericarps, and were similar in others. The carpel foveoles were non-glandular in E. cicutarium and E. acaule, while it was clearly glandular in the other five species. The carpel foveoles were surrounded by furrows in all species except E. ciconium. The furrows were non-glandular in E. cicutarium, E. acaule and E. subtrilobum, and were glandular in E. moschatum, E. deserti and E. malacoides. Pollen grains study showed the similarity of the studied species in the shape of the grain and a difference in size and in the dimensions of the polar axis P and the equatorial diameter E.
The results of the cluster-numerical analysis based on the qualitative traits gave a Dendrogram, in which the studied species were separated into two clusters, where the first cluster included E. cicutarium and E. acaule, while the second cluster separated into two sub-clusters, the first contained E. ciconium alone, and the second contained two groups. The first included E. moschatum and E. deserti, the second included E. malacoides and E. subtrilobum.
The phytochemical study of the genus Erodium showed that the presence of tannins, fluobatanins, terpenoids, carbohydrates, anthraquinones and lactones was more evident in the methanolic extracts of all species, while these components were absent in some aqueous extracts, in contrast to the saponins and anthocyanins that appeared in all aqueous extracts. The results also showed the presence of small quantities of proteins, steroids and resin in some extracts of the studied species.
Numerical analysis of the results of thin layer chromatography (TLC) gave a chemical Dendrogram in which the species were separated into three clusters and three groups. E. cicutarium was isolated in the first cluster, and the second cluster included a single group that included E. ciconium and E. malacoides with PA=30.43% and Euclidean distance of 18. The third cluster included the remaining species into two groups, the first group was unique to E. acaule, and the second group included E. moschatum and E. deserti, with PA=48.15%, and Euclidean distance of 2. The species E. deserti showed the highest group affinity of GA=297.91, and E. cicutarium showed the lowest group affinity of GA 264.04. The highest isolation value was IV=7.5% for E. malacoides, and was IV=0 for E. deserti.
The two morphological Dendrograms and chemical Dendrogram agreed that the two most closely related species were E. moschatum and E. deserti, and they differed clearly due to the divergence of E. acaule from E. cicutarium, which supports the importance of Chemotaxonomy in separating them based on the spots of the isolated components.
As for the genus Geranium, five species and one variety have been identified as G. tuberosum and G. libanoticum, which belong to Sect. Tuberosa, and G. rotundifolium of Sect. Geranium, of which these two sections belong to the Subg. Geranium, and G. purpureum of Sect. Roberta, G. molle, and G. molle var. album of Sect. Batrachioidea, where these two sections belong to the Subg. Robertium. The plant density ranged from 0.18 individuals/m2 for the G. libanoticum to 9.53 individuals/m2 for the G. molle, and the frequency ranged from 4% for G. purpureum, to 97% for the G. rotundifolium. The abundance varied from very rare species, which were G. libanoticum and G. purpureum, to abundant ones, which were G. molle and G. rotundifolium.
The studied species differ in a number of characteristics with significant differences. The results showed that the morphological characteristics of the leaves, fruits. Mericarps and seeds have a high taxonomic value, pilosity and shutters of furrowed carpel played an important role in separating the studied species, as the mericarp were strongly pilose and smooth in the species belonging to the subg. Geranium, glabrous and wrinkled with furrows, in species of the subg. Robertium.
The results of the cluster-numerical analysis of the qualitative traits showed a Dendrogram in which the species separated into two clusters. The first cluster included the perennial species of Tuberosa with a single group, while the second cluster separated into two groups, the first included G. purpureum alone, and the second included two under groups, the first included G. rotundifolium, the second included G. molle and its white variety.
The phytochemical study of Geranium genus showed the presence of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, flavonoids, diterpenes, carbohydrates and volatile oils in varying amounts in the studied extracts, while no flupatanin and cardiac glycosides were recorded.
Numerical analysis of the TLC results produced a chemical Dendrogram, in which the species separated into two clusters, the first of which included G. tuberosum and G. rotundifolium, and the second included G. molle and its variety G. molle var. album. The two species G. tuberosum and G. rotundifolium were the closest with PA=40 and Euclidean distance of 4, while G. rotundifolium and G. molle var. album were the farthest with PA=20.83 and Euclidean distance of 14. G. rotundifolium showed the highest group affinity GA=188.83, and G. tuberosum showed the lowest GA=179.07. The highest isolation values were IV=10% for G. molle var. album, and the lowest was IV=0 for G. tuberosum.
The two morphological and chemical Dendrograms agreed in terms of the presence of a strong relationship and a close relationship between the species G. molle and G. molle var. album, and they were compatible in terms of the relationship between G. tuberosum and G. rotundifolium, this corresponds to the subg. classification which is based on the Types of dispersal.
Conclusion: The study showed that Aleppo is a natural and rich habitat of some species of Erodium and Geranium. In this study, the presence of G. libanoticum was confirmed in Syrian flora, and the presence of E. subtrilobum, E. deserti, G. purpureum, and G. molle var. album for the first time in Aleppo. The results of the phytochemical study indicated that the separated spots of terpene glycosides and flavonoids have additional taxonomic significance and can be used to separate the studied species chemically.
