Macro- and micro-morphological, and anatomical investigation of achenes in the Iranian Anemone and Pulsatilla species

Anemone L. (Ranunculaceae) with ca. 150 morphologically variable species is distributed all over the world. Morphological characters are widely used to discriminate species. In the present study, therefore, the Iranian species of Anemone and Pulsatilla are investigated by their achene macro- and micro-morphological and anatomical features. The micro-morphological and anatomical studies are performed employing the scanning electronic microscope (SEM). Multivariate statistical analyses of various quantitative and qualitative characters of the achene as well as their anatomy, resulted in distinguishing four different achene types. Although, obvious differences are observed in the achene body surface; number of the endocarp and mesocarp layers, and in the shape and length of the style, it is also revealed that, features like the number of epicarp layers and margin surface, have no diagnostic values. The analyses are carried out by SPSS software, using the Ward’s and the Average linkage methods. Both the dendrograms showed that, the P. albana is separated from other species which is consistent with systematic studies and the achene features. Besides, in the present study, A. blanda is also rediscovered.