Morphological study of Salicornieae (Chenopodiaceae) native to Iran

The tribe Salicornieae Dum. belonging to the subfamily Salicornioideae Kostel (Chenopodiaceae Vent.) includes halophyte plants. These 5 genera and 6 species are distributed in different habitats of Iran. Members of this tribe have reduced vegetative parts, scale like leaves and articulated stems. In this study quantitative and qualitative morphological characters for 46 accessions of Salicornieae were evaluated. Vegetative characters are not sufficient to distinguish these taxa. Our results indicated that vegetative form, globular buds, plant color, stem base disarticulation and presence of node at the base of inflorescence are diagnostic character in this tribe. Besides floral arrangement in inflorescences, bracts shape, color and shape of seeds are important key features in members of Salicornieae in Iran. Seed coat ornamentations and its hairs and color are found to be helpful in distinguishing these taxa. Quantitative characters show variation too, but as they were not significant, they can not help to resolve the taxonomic problems of this tribe in Iran. Based on studied morphological characters, an identification key for members of this tribe in Iran is provided.