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Morpho-phenological
characterization of
Allium roseum L. (Alliaceae) from different bioclimatic zones in Tunisia
Zammouri Jamila*, Guetat Arbi
and Neffati Mohamed
Arid Lands Institute, Laboratory of Range Ecology, Médenine
4119 Tunisia.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
jamila.zammouri@ira.rnrt.tn. Tel: +90 286
2180018-1309, Fax: +90 286 2180545
Accepted 3 August, 2009 |
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Allium roseum (Alliaceae) is an important medicinal and aromatic plant of
the Tunisian flora. It was extensively widespread in
southern Tunisia, where it has been empirically used for its
numerous therapeutic virtues. Twenty-two morphological and
floral traits observed in a field collection of 14
populations of A. roseum, belonging to four different
bioclimatic zones of Tunisia, were analyzed using
multivariate analysis. The data underwent an analysis of
variance and a principal component analysis. Significant
differences have been showed between the populations for the
studied characters and the cluster analysis revealed three
main groups among the Tunisian A. roseum plants.
Bioclimatic zone originality of studied population was not
determinant criteria for the distribution of populations in
several groups. There proved to be substantial genotypic
variability in the Tunisian material for the phenotypic
traits. Variation within the same bioclimatic zone was
extremely important.
Key words:
Allium roseum, bioclimatic zones, morphological
traits, phenotypic variability, Tunisia. |
