3. RESULTS
This work evaluates macro-morphologically the achene structures of the
examined taxa containing color, figure, dimension and carpopodium
diameter. Achene color has shown variation; brown-dark brown (in 3
taxa), straw yellowish-light brown (in 2 taxa), light brown-brown (in 12
taxa), yellowish-light brown-brown (in 6 taxa), dark brown (1 taxon) and
dark brown-blackish brown (in 2 taxa). The figure and dimension of
achenes vary markedly. The examined achenes are separated into 4 shapes;
fusiform-oblong, oblong, oblong-ovate and ovate. Oblong-ovate is the
most common type (noted in 20 taxa). However, oblong is typical form forA. abrotanum . Achene dimensions range from 0.62 mm to 2.48 mm in
length, from 0.30 mm to 1.21 mm in width. As A. santonicum subsp.patens is of the largest achenes, A. annua and A.
verloitorum have the smallest achenes (Table 2, Figure 1). Achene
macromorphological surface structures are of 3 different types; (1)
bare, deeply longitudinally striate (in 3 taxa), (2) bare, finely
longitudinally striate (in 18 taxa) and (3) rough, deeply longitudinally
striate. Carpopodium diameter vary between 0.10 mm and 0.19 mm (Table
2). The largest carpopodium diameter is found in taxa A. fragransand A. taurica var. vanensis , while the narrowest one isA. alpina species (Table 2).
Achene
surfaces of the examined taxa are micro-morphologically assessed, and
the substantial differences are noticeably detected on behalf of the
surface structures for instance, surface ornamentation, anticlinal and
periclinal cell walls, epidermal cells and presence of secondary
structures of the achenes. Surface ornamentation is separated into 10
types: irregularly sulcate, regularly sulcate, ruminate,
sulcate-scalariform, rugose, favulariate, slightly sulcate, alveolate,
tuberculate and reticulate. The most common types are irregularly
sulcate (in 7 taxa) and regularly sulcate (in 7 taxa), while
ruminate (in A.
abrotanum ), rugose (in A. chamaemelifolia ), favulariate (inA. arborescens ), alveolate (in A. santonicum subsp.patens ), tuberculate (in A. taurica var. vanensis )
and reticulate (in A. bashkalensis ) ornamentation types are found
as taxon-specific (Table 3, Figure 2). The structures of the anticlinal
cell walls of the studied taxa are unclear, raised and sunken. As raised
cell walls are mostly detected in the irregularly sulcate, ruminate,
sulcate-scalariform, alveolate and reticulate ornamentation types, the
favulariate and tuberculate types are found where epidermal cells are
enclosed by sunken walls. Rugose type is connected with unclear type
(Table 3). There is no link between concave or convex periclinal cell
walls and surface ornamentation type. In the rugose type is observed
only unclear periclinal cells. Moreover, the structure of epidermal
cells on the achene surface has displayed variation. It is rectangular,
arched-rectangular, polygonal and unclear forms. The most common cell
type is rectangular, while arched-rectangular and polygonal are fairly
rare (Table 3). 13 of the examined taxa have secondary structures, which
are irregular lines, irregular epicuticular wrinkles, irregular
epicuticular protrusions, epicuticular wrinkles and dome-shaped
protrusion. The most common type is epicuticular wrinkles; however,
dome-shaped protrusions and epicuticular wrinkles are for characteristic
for A. marschalliana .
A percentage comparison of the
elements in the achene pericarp of the studied taxa have performed with
SEM-EDS. Accordingly, pericarps in taxa include C, Ca, K, Mg, Cl, Si, Na
and S elements. The most common seen element is C, which ranges from
77.4 (in A. austriaca ) to 96.2 (in A. absinthium ). Along
with C, Ca element is also found in the pericarps of all taxa examined.
It is between 0.6 (in A. arborescens ) and 12.2 (in A.
austriaca ). K element is observed in other taxa except A.
abrotanum and A. marschalliana , albeit in low amounts. Mg
element is found in the pericarps of 12 of the examined taxa; the amount
varies between 0.6 (in A. tournefortiana ) and 1.2 (in A.
austriaca ). Si element is only found in trace amounts in taxa A.
chamaemelifolia (0.6), A. tournefortiana (0.8) and A.
fragrans (0.5). Na element is observed only in A. santonicumsubspecies and A. arborescens species. On the other hand, S
element is found in low amounts only in A. alpina species (Table
4).
The numerical evaluations of the achene morphological characteristics
allow the creation of a dendrogram, which discloses the
differences-similarities among the examined taxa. A dendrogram is made
as a result of the cluster analysis of the examined taxa ofArtemisia based on the variation of 44 characters in 26 taxa. The
cophenetic-correlation coefficient is defined to explain the
relationship between the dendrogram and dissimilarity matrix (Figure 3,
Table 5). The cophenetic-correlation between the dissimilarity matrix
and dendrogram has been calculated as 0.61, signifying a good-match.
Cluster analysis has detached the taxa into 2 major groups of A and B:
Cluster A includes A. araratica, A. scoparia and A.
verloitorum (A1), A. abrotanum , A. annua , A.
austriaca , A. campestris , A. incana , A. alpina ,A. spicigera , A. tournefortiana , A. absinthium ,A. fragrans and A. armeniaca (A21), A. splendens ,A. taurica var. taurica , A. haussknechtii , A.
sieberi subsp. sieberi , A. marschalliana and A.
taurica var. vanensis (A22). Cluster B1 comprises A.
chamaemelifolia and A. arborescens . Cluster B2 contains A.
santonicum subsp. santonicum , A. bashkalensis andA. santonicum subp. patens . Artemisia vulgaris has
formed a clade outside these clusters in the dendrogram (Figure 3).A. splendens and A. taurica var. taurica are the
most closely correlated taxa (dissimilarity coefficient: 0.069), whileA. vulgaris and A. marschalliana are the most distantly
correlated taxa (dissimilarity coefficient: 0.716) (Table 5). Cluster A
has the highest number of taxa compared to another cluster (Figure 3).