A taxonomic reassessment of the Tanacetum aureum (Asteraceae, Anthemideae) species group: insights from morphological and molecular data

Authors: MARZIE KAZEMI, ALI SONBOLI, HASSAN ZARE MAIVAN, SHAHROKH KAZEMPOUR OSALOO

Abstract: A taxonomic reassessment of the Tanacetum aureum (Lam.) Greuter, M.V.Agab. & Wagenitz (Asteraceae, Anthemideae) species group was performed. This group of species is distinguished by herbaceous perennial habit, (1-)2-10(-80) disciform capitula, with compact to lax corymbs and strongly to moderately convex receptacle. A multivariate statistical analysis of 58 morphological characters using Ward cluster, principal component analyses, and molecular phylogenetic analyses of nrDNA ITS and cpDNA rpL32-trnL^{(UAG)} + ndhF-rpL32 spacer sequence datasets were conducted. Both datasets corroborated that T. aureum, T. oligocephalum (DC.) Sch.Bip., and T. heimerlii (Nabelek) Parsa could be differentiated as separate species. An identification key of the studied taxa and a description and conspectus of the species are presented.

Keywords: Asteraceae, ITS, morphometry, phylogeny, plastid data, SW Asia, Tanacetum

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