Evaluation of morphological variations in different endemic Thymus caramanicus Jalas. species to Iran

Evaluation of morphological variations in 70 genotypes of seven accessions of Thymus caramanicus Jalas.Growing in central Iran was carried out, for determining valuable characters for future breeding programs and medicinal purposes. In this study 30 quantitative and qualitative characters were evaluated. The results revealed great variabilities of important traits among populations. Results of simple correlation analysis showed the existence of significant, positive and negative correlations among some important characters. Factor analysis was also used for defining of the determinant factors and the characters constituted in each factor. Factor analysis showed that flowering stem length, second internode length, leaf length, leaf width, number of flowers per inflorescence, inflorescence length, number of bracts, calyx length and corolla length constituted the main factors. Principal component analysis explained over 84 percent of the variation related to main effective characters. Populations of T. caramanicus separated into two groups by cluster analysis using Ward method. Populations which were collected from Kerman and Esfahan provinces placed in a same group and populations from Semnan province were placed in an independent group. The most similar populations were Rabor and Kashan. The Rabor population characterized by having valuable traits such as largest flowering stem, longest second internode and largest leaf, can be introduced for breeding and medicinal purposes.