Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Five species of the genus Asparagus are recognized in the flora of Algeria: A. acutifolius L., A. albus L., A. horridus L., A. officinalis L., and the endemic A. altissimus Munby. The chorology of each of these species is fairly well known. In this study, morphological variation and the anatomical features of the cladodes have been evaluated in respect to each taxonomic unit and ecogeographical distribution and they suggest distinct adaptive strategies. Analyses have been performed on twenty-nine natural populations sampled along the east-west bioclimatic gradient of Northern Algeria. Multivariate analysis based on the main diagnostic descriptors underlines the interspecific differentiation particularly with respect to the stigma type, bifid versus trifid, shape of flowers, color of berry, and the number of cladodes in a fascicle. For each species, the anatomy of the cladodes is unique, unlike that of stems and roots. Interspecific differentiation was observed in the form of cross-sections of the cladode, thickness of the cuticle, shape of epidermal cells, number of vascular bundles and presence of raphides. Morphological and anatomical traits of the cladode constitute important interspecific criteria within the genus Asparagus.
Keywords
Article Details
Copyright (c) 2022 Kenza Boubetra, Nabila Amirouche, Rachid Amirouche
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Acta Botanica Croatica is an Open Access journal with minimal restrictions regarding content reuse. Immediately after publishing, all content becomes freely available to anyone for unlimited use and distribution, under the sole condition that the author(s) and the original source are properly attributed according to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
CC BY 4.0 represents the highest level of Open Access, which maximizes dissemination of scholarly work and protects the rights of its authors. In Acta Botanica Croatica, authors hold the copyright of their work and retain unrestricted publishing rights.
By approving final Proof the authors grant to the publisher exclusive license to publish their article in print and on-line, in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-4.0) license.