Full Length Research Paper

Phylogenetic analysis of Artemisia L. (Asteraceae) based on micromorphological traits of pollen grains

Muhammad Qasim Hayat¹*, Muhammad Ashraf², Mir Ajab Khan¹, Ghazalah Yasmin¹, Nighat Shaheen¹ and Shazia Jabeen³

¹Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

²NUST Center of Virology and Immunology, National University of Science and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

³National Center of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: mqasimhayat@hotmail.com. Tel: +923335232392.

Accepted 2 November, 2009

   Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships within the genus Artemisia have been very controversial. In order to recognize the systematic inference of pollen grains in this genus, the micromorphological characteristics of pollens from 22 taxa were examined by means of light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A phylogenetic analysis of Artemisia based on 9 micromorphological characters of pollens was conducted using Wagner parsimony method. In the resulting phylogenetic tree, relationships among different Artemisia species are shown. This study also presents the phylogenetic associations among 4 sections within the genus Artemisia. The reunion of genus Seriphidum with Artemisia was also confirmed.

Key words: Artemisia, Seriphidium, Anthemideae, Asteraceae, palynology, pollen morphology, taxonomy, systematics, phylogeny.