Investigating intraspecific and interspecific diversity of Chamomile genus (Anthemis) in terms of morphological and phenological characteristics in Damavand region

Chamomile medicinal plant (Anthemis) is widely used in pharmaceutical, food and health industries. Due to the great importance and variety in this genus, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive study to investigate its germplasms, with the aim of obtaining desirable genotypes and using them in breeding programs. In order to investigate the diversity of the chamomile genus in terms of morphological and phenological characteristics, an experiment was conducted in Damavand city on 14 populations of 5 species, based of a completely randomized block design with three replications. The studied traits included: plant height, number of flowers, weight of 100 flowers, leaf length and width, dry yield, canopy area, percentage and yield of essential oil, flowering time, harvest time and cumulative temperature during flowering and harvest. Based on the results of analysis of variance, in terms of all traits, there was a significant difference between the studied populations at the probability level of 1%. The yield of essential oil showed a positive and significant correlation with the traits of number of flowers, leaf length and width, canopy area and dry yield. In principal component analysis, the first and second components were introduced as morphological and phenological components, respectively. In cluster analysis, A. altissima and A. pseudocotula were in class 1, A. triumfettii and A. tinctoria were in class 2, and A. haussknechtii was in class 3. A. altissima species can be used as an important species in the pharmaceutical industry due to its high essential oil content.