Abstract
Morphological features of nine wild species belonging to the genus Tephrosia PER growing in Saudi Arabia were extensively studied in order to support the diversity and simplify the identification of these species. The studied features included macro and micro morphological features of stem, leaves, flowers and pods. The most important features regarded for distinction of Saudi Arabia species of Tephrosia were pods shape, color, size, dehiscence and number of seeds per pod, inflorescences position, flower opening, shape of the upper 2 teeth of calyx, shape of sepals apex, shape of wings, length of hairs on ovary, direction of staminal tube tip, leaflets shape and surface and stem habit form and life spin. A key for the identification of the investigated species based on these morphological features is provided.
Highlights
The genus Tephrosia PERS. (Fabaceae, Papilionoideae) comprises between 300 to 400 species of annual and perennial woody herb, distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world [1,2].In Saudi Arabia, there are about 11 taxa of Tephrosia, which are mainly distributed in the northwestern, western, south and southwestern regions [3,4,5,6,7]
Morphological features of nine wild species belonging to the genus Tephrosia PERS growing in Saudi Arabia were extensively studied in order to support the diversity and simplify the identification of these species
The most important features regarded for distinction of Saudi Arabia species of Tephrosia were pods shape, color, size, dehiscence and number of seeds per pod, inflorescences position, flower opening, shape of the upper 2 teeth of calyx, shape of sepals apex, shape of wings, length of hairs on ovary, direction of staminal tube tip, leaflets shape and surface and stem habit form and life spin
Summary
In Saudi Arabia, there are about 11 taxa of Tephrosia, which are mainly distributed in the northwestern, western, south and southwestern regions [3,4,5,6,7]. Eight species of Tephrosia growing in Saudi Arabia were described by [7], namely T. desertorum, T. heterophylla (T. schweinfurthii), T. nubica, T. pumila, T. purpurea, T. subtriflora, T. uniflora and T. villosa. Specimens of T. villosa described as a species of Saudi Arabia flora [7], whereas plant specimen was collected from Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab of Emirates. Eleven species of Tephrosia were described briefly [5] including, T. apollina, T. leptostachya and T. pubescens which treated as subspecies or varieties of T. purpurea, in addition to T. quartiniana and other species recorded by [7] except T. villosa
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