MORPHOLOGICAL AND MICROMORPHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF NONEA (BORAGINACEAE: TRIBE BORAGINEAE) IN IRAN

Nonea Medik. is one of the major genera of Boraginaceae tribe Boragineae, with approximately 35 species in the world. In this study we focused on reproductive characters, which are not generally affected by environment. Our selected reproductive characters have been the stigma form, position of stigma towards the anthers, form of faucal scales, color, form and symmetry of flowers and characters of mericarps. An identification key using morphological and micromorphological characters has also been proposed. In the present paper above mentioned characters have been described for the first time in N. turcomanica M. Pop, N. lutea (Desr.) DC. var. flavescens Lipsky, N. persica Boiss. var. suchtelenioides (Riedl) Falatoury & Pakravan, N. diffusa Boiss. et Buhse, N. rosea (Bieb.) Link and N. melanocarpa Boiss. Nonea suchtelenioides H. Riedl has been decreased to the variety level of Nonea persica as N. persica Boiss. var. suchtelenioides (Riedl) Falatoury & Pakravan.