Taxonomic studies on the Chara section Hartmania in Poland based on morphological and molecular data

Charophytes are aquatic green macroalgae, which inhabit fresh and brackish water ecosystems. In this study, four species belonging to the genus Chara were examined to determine their taxonomic status. Morphological characteristics of the plant bodies as well as plastid psaB barcoding genes were applied to test the relations among Chara species. Plants were initially classified using morphological features into four species: C. baltica, C. hispida, C. polyacantha and C. rudis, and twelve quantitative characters were used in a principal component analysis and discriminant analysis to determine groupings among the species and to determine the morphological features that best separated the groups. In the component analysis and discriminant analysis, results showed that only C. polyacantha and partly C. baltica formed separate groups. The other species C. hispida and C. rudis were only partially distinguishable. All species from one molecular group, and no differentiation in the psaB variability between them has been found.