Morphological Characterization of Ficus religiosa Genotypes in Iran by Multivariate Analysis

Abstract

Ficus religiosa L. is one of the most popular species in the Moraceae family that is known as a multipurpose forest tree species because of its medicinal, ornamental, and religious value. F. religiosa is an important tree in South Asia, and it possesses various common names such as peepal, bodhi, bo tree, and asvattha. This species as a traditional tree is broadly planted as a roadside tree, and it plays an important role as a medicinal tree in various diseases such as asthma, stomatitis, diabetes, inflammations, glandular swelling disorders, and wound healing. Because F. religiosa is characterized as a subtropical tree, it fully grew in southern parts of Iran. The morphological variation of 72 individuals of F. religiosa from six southern regions of Iran was investigated based on multivariate analysis. Our results indicated that the highest tree, leaf, and petiole lengths, as well as leaf width, were observed in Kish and Qeshm genotypes, whereas the Chabahar genotype had the lowest petiole length. Results of simple correlation analysis showed the existence of significant positive and negative correlations among some important parameters. The highest correlation was observed between leaf, tree, and petiole lengths. Populations were clustered in four groups. The Kish and Qeshm genotypes were closely related to each other and differentiated from the Chabahar genotype. The whole dataset was subjected to principal component analysis (PCA). PCA showed that the first two factor components explained 84.51% of the variation and the first factor component had the positive relationship with leaf, tree, and petiole lengths.