Vestiture and trichome types of the oaks of forests in Western Iran

The Quercus is the main genus of the Fagaceae with about 300 to 600 species in the world. Both the vestiture and trichome types are important in the taxonomy of Quercus species and hybrids. Although particular terms have been used for a long time، the terminology for both vestiture and trichome types has not been standardized، glossaries differ in their definitions and illustrations and floristic manuals vary markedly in their descriptions of the species. In this study، the vestiture and trichomes were described and illustrated for seven species of oaks in the Zagros Mountains. The terminology of trichome types was determined based upon Hardin (1976). Samples for SEM studies of each species were collected from fresh material of early spring and mature leaves and specimens which were deposited in the Herbaria. The ten types of trichomes were distinguished for the Zagros oaks as follows: 1) Simple-thin-walled، 2) Rosulate-rosette، 3) Solitary-long، 4) Fasciculate-erect، 5) Multiradiate، 6) Stellate، 7) Fused-stellate، 8) Appressed-Lateral، 9) Atipic stellate، 10) Multinodal stellate. Based on trichome types two major infrageneric groups were recognized for western of Iran: the cerroid and roburoid oaks matched our results based on ITS data.