Fitting the Morphological Diversity of Poa Sect. Stenopoa into a Taxonomic Framework

Marina Vladimirovna Olonova¹, Sabine Miehe², Natalia Sergeevna Mezina³, Polina Dmitrievna Gudkova⁴ and Andrey Sergeevich Erst⁵

¹National Research Tomsk State University, Laboratory of Biogeochemical and of Remote Methods ofMonitoring Environmental, prospekt Lenina, 36; 634050, Tomsk, Russia. ²Philipps-Universität Marburg, Biegenstrasse, 10; Marburg, D-35032, Germany. ^3,4National Research Tomsk State University, Laboratory of Biodiversity and Ecology, prospekt Lenina, 36; 634050, Tomsk, Russia. ⁵National Research Tomsk State University, Laboratory of Biodiversity and Ecology, prospekt Lenina, 36; 634050, Tomsk, Russia; Central Siberian Botanical Garden of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Zolotodolinskaya str., 101; 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia.

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/1467

ABSTRACT: Bluegrasses (Poa L.) of section Stenopoa is one of the most numerous, variable and intricate groups of grasses in temperate regions of Asia. The preliminary research of correlations and gepgraphical distribution of 5 main discriminators have been undertaken. It has revealed 54 combinations of characters states (among 96 possible), but only 22 of them could be attributed to identified species. Significant correlation was found between ligule length and surface of rachilla. The divergence in geographical distribution of ligule length (along longitude) and lemma callus (along latitude) has been revealed. It confirms the morphological and geographical divergence and has indicated the main trend. The most morphological diversity has been revealed in Chinese provinces Sichuan and Yunnan.

KEYWORDS: biodiversity; Poa L.; biogeography; Asia

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