Ecomorphological Study of Primula verticillata from Tanumah Waterfall

Abstract

Tanumah site located in the highland of Asir Mountains (110 km from Abha), with rainfall throughout the year specially in spring and summer. As species Primula was found dominant and growing at different altitude within the waterfall zone in this area, a detail description of the morphology of this species in relation to the ecology of the site was investigated. During this study a type of mosses and Pteridophyta species was recorded with some of higher plants. The significant variations in the morphology of Primula species upper and lower the waterfall zone encourage us to study this phenomena in relation to other factors might affect this observation. Regarding the morphological study, the data shows that primula growing at site I (low altitude) shows high morphological measurement compared with that of site II (high altitude). This may refer to the high concentration of elements precipitated as a tufa-deposition at site I in addition to high opportunity of cross-pollination, which gives rise to healthy plants with good growth. This in contrast to that found at site II, where low concentration of elements (calcareous soil) and low possibility of cross pollination, which might effect the growth morphology and seeds set of the upper site species. In addition to that factor mentioned, it was found that there is a role of Macroglossum insect in cross pollination which found active during winter period which consequently increases the efficiency of pollination and consequently increases fertility and seed production of the species.